Kroger PMP 101: Everything You Need to Know About Kroger’s Private Marketplace
In the twelve months since we first dove into the first-party data-fueled benefits advertising with Kroger Precision Marketing—Kroger’s internal media company—offers brands, the folks behind-the-scenes haven’t once stepped on the brakes. Kroger, the largest grocery retailer in the US, formally announced their plans to double their digital sales by the end of 2023 back in March 2021, and the work they’ve put in toward achieving that has been impressive.
In this article, we’ll unpack one of the latest and greatest innovations from Kroger Precision Marketing, powered by 84.51°—Kroger Private Marketplace (PMP).
What is the Kroger Private Marketplace?
The Kroger Private Marketplace gives brands and agencies the ability to leverage Kroger’s wealth of first-party data to accurately target their desired audiences through programmatic ad campaigns.
The self-service user interface provides advertisers with access to Kroger’s audiences within their preferred DSP (demand-side platform). Advertisers can then optimize their display campaign performance with privacy-compliant in-store and online sale insights at their fingertips.
Kroger PMP Has Flexible Options
Prior to the launch of Kroger’s Private Marketplace, running off-site display campaigns necessitated working with KPM’s managed service. PMP aims to improve overall efficiency without compromising on quality or options.
“People love shopping with Kroger. That means our advertising capabilities are nothing like legacy programmatic media. We reduce ad waste by reaching known Kroger households – and we empower brands to optimize against daily in-store sales. We’re setting higher performance expectations for programmatic media.”
— Jill Smith, VP of Sales, Kroger
Kroger PMP works with your existing tech stack; advertisers aren’t boxed into a predetermined DSP or SSP (supply-side platform). You can set the parameters in whichever DSP you choose across ComScore’s Top 500 publishers, and select inventory in your SSP of choice.
As noted in the company’s press release:
“The Kroger Private Marketplace makes buying easier while providing advertisers unmatched flexibility, speed, and control of their campaigns. For the first time, brands can now reach the most relevant consumers across the web, using their own DSP of choice, and then optimize performance against actual retail sales.”
What Makes Kroger’s First-Party Data So Valuable?
While there is inherent value in nearly all first-party data—with its performance marketing value only continuing to rise—not all first-party data is equal in quantity or quality.
Let’s consider some top reasons Kroger’s first-party data is so powerful for advertisers:
There is a lot of it.
When it comes to building brand loyalty, Kroger has proven themselves to be an expert architect. In fact, 96% of Kroger’s in-store sales are captured on their loyalty card, with some of their long-term shoppers having used their loyalty card for 20+ years and counting. That’s a lot of opted-in, privacy-compliant data to work with.
Kroger reaches a wide, varied, and growing customer base across the US.
No matter which audiences are most important to your brand, chances are strong they’re shopping at Kroger. Simply put, everybody needs groceries. And when they need them, there’s probably a Kroger nearby.
- 1 in every 2 households shop at Kroger, resulting in 11 million daily customers to their brick and mortar stores alone
- Along with Kroger’s broader family of stores, they operate 2,800 stores across 35 states, reaching a total of 60 million US households
- Kroger sees 30 million ecommerce visitors each month, and is a Top 10 ecommerce retailer. In Comscore’s food and grocery category, they rank as the #1 digital grocery destination
- Comparing their Q1 2021 sales against Q1 2019, Kroger saw a 108% increase in digital sales growth
Kroger Private Marketplace Capabilities & Benefits
Kroger’s PMP is just getting started, and currently gives advertisers the ability to drive prospective customers to pages on Kroger.com, or the brand’s website, through programmatic display ads. Kroger has plans to offer more channels this year.
Ad Targeting
Kroger’s data science leverages machine learning, exploring more than 3,000 variables to find the most relevant audiences to help meet your campaign objectives. Once you’ve determined your primary initiative for a given campaign—driving awareness, consideration, or conversions—KPM targeting offers the scale and high-performing audiences necessary for reaching your goals, also factoring in timing and your budget.
Notably, KPM was also rated #1 in ‘Targeting Effectiveness’ and ‘Measurement Capabilities’ among retail media platforms in the Path to Purchase Institute 2021 Trends Report.
- Drive Awareness: Looking to reach a wide array of new audiences, increasing overall brand awareness? Consider a scaled, broad audience pool.
- Drive Consideration: Want to move a bit further down the funnel? Layer sequential messaging to national targeting to specific Kroger audiences.
- Drive Conversions: Ready to close the deal? Optimize your campaigns to ROAS and decrease the number of purchase touchpoints.
Kroger’s “Optimal Audience” recommendations are built around four primary considerations:
- Engagement History (including clicks, email opens, and more)
- Purchase History (including brand, category, and complementary buyers)
- Shopping Behavior (including how often a customer shops, and their average basket size and basket value)
- Household Information (including household size, location, and shopper demographics)
Kroger provides advertisers with access to a list of the most frequently used audiences, including:
- Shoppers by tender type (method of payment)
- Parents
- Health-focused shoppers
- Customers whose shopping behavior indicates they follow a specific diet (gluten-free shoppers, vegetarians, etc.)
- Customers who already shop your brand or brand department
- Former shoppers of your brand who haven’t made a recent purchase (lapsed shoppers)
- Price-conscious shoppers / Regular coupon-users
- …and more!
Measurement & Reporting
- Daily attributable sales and ROAS reporting
- Live DSP metrics
- ROAS performance can be measured within 84.51° Prism, where you can optimize your campaigns in real time against Sales, aROAS, or Household Penetration
- No additional cost for measurement
Ready to learn more about advertising on Kroger, and the actionable opportunities their new private marketplace has opened for brands? Reach out today to chat with an expert!
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