Ahold Delhaize USA’s in-house retail media network wants to make it easier to work with CPG partners.
AD Retail Media has joined forces with ad sales platform Placements.io to streamline the retail media platform’s sales, advertising and finance operations, according to a Tuesday announcement.
Bobby Watts, senior vice president of AD Retail Media, said in the statement that the tie-up will update its ad sales workflow and sharpen revenue management.
Ahold Delhaize USA said the partnership will increase operational efficiencies and help expand AD Retail Media's digital network through automated workflows and technology integrations with companies, such as Salesforce, Epsilon Retail Media, Meta and Pinterest. Placements.io will also provide retail-specific research and development and revenue management controls.
Combined, Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. brands, which include Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Giant Food and more, span more than 2,000 stores, process more than 23 million transactions per week, have nearly 24 million active loyalty card users and total more than $51 billion in annual sales, the company said.
In late 2022, Ahold Delhaize USA announced the transition of its retail media business to a fully in-house operation. Last fall Watts stepped into his current role at AD Retail Media — a new position — to oversee the growth of the retail media arm and its revenue and partnerships.
As retail media ramps up in the grocery industry, Ahold Delhaize USA has been leveraging its scale against competitors vying for CPG ad dollars.
“We’re really maximizing that opportunity to partner with our CPGs, allowing them to work with our local brands, but also being able to leverage the full size and scale of Ahold Delhaize,” Ahold Delhaize USA CEO JJ Fleeman said at a conference last year. “I think as we look to the future, of course, standardization of measurement is going to be a really important topic for us all.”
Ahold Delhaize grew complementary revenue by 13% last year through its retail media and consumer insights practices, the company said in its 2023 annual report. The company added in the report that it is focusing on building out its ad tech ecosystem and noted that AD Retail Media launched a new service in the U.S. with Citrus Ad and Epsilon to provide one platform for buying media and measurement.
