Onsite search inventory can now be managed through the third-party Pacvue, Skai, and Flywheel Digital platforms.
by Courtney Crossley, The Mars Agency
Kroger Precision Marketing, the retail media arm of supermarket giant Kroger Co., this week unveiled a new API that strengthens its robust retail media offerings by facilitating easier management of onsite ad campaigns for brand partners.
The API allows brand advertisers and their agencies to buy and manage Kroger onsite search advertising through three newly named partner platforms: Pacvue, Skai, and Flywheel Digital. Historically, KPM’s onsite advertising has run exclusively through their continuing partnership with PromoteIQ.
Starting April 1, the API will launch within Pacvue and Skai and then be fully available for use by advertising partners eight weeks later. Flywheel Digital will begin its integration shortly thereafter. The initial launch will only support paid search placement, with targeted onsite ads expected to be available in the near future.
The ability to work through one of these third-party ad management platforms allows brand advertisers and their agencies to better leverage Kroger’s scale within their own broader search strategies and provide clearer performance insights through access to more complete reporting capabilities. It also gives them a clearer, centralized view of advertising activity across multiple retailers within their platform of choice.
The Mars Agency uses its third-party ad management platform partnership to gain greater visibility into campaign performance by streamlining our insights and data capabilities into a single source of reporting. Our partner of choice is Pacvue which, compared to many other retailer-owned platforms, delivers greater management customization capabilities across auto-bidding, dayparting, and automated reporting.
The partnership with Pacvue powers our custom reporting and lets us better align search strategy across our onsite ad investments to support the topline and retailer-specific goals of our clients. By pairing Pacvue’s clear line of sight into ad performance across retailers with our robust data and insight partnerships, we’re able to develop retailer-specific understanding on everything from recommended product mix to category trends across paid and organic traffic.
KPM’s new offering marks the latest effort by a retail media network to make it easier for brands and agencies to navigate their dispersed cross-retailer investments by facilitating management through a single platform of choice. KPM now joins Walmart, Target, Albertsons and Instacart in delivering what is fast becoming the industry standard for onsite advertising. Earlier this year, KPM also began allowing brands to manage their offsite display activity through their own third-party demand side platforms by launching the Kroger PMP.
About the Author
As VP-Commerce Media at The Mars Agency, Courtney Crossley develops holistic, business-led strategies across all client touch points with the goal of driving top-line results.
She brings a wealth of end-to-end experience from prior roles at KPM, where she helped brands better connect with shoppers, and at Google, where she advised c-suite leaders across a diversified client portfolio on how to adopt a more digital mindset. Courtney has a passion for empowering brands both internally and through their relationships with grocers to help them innovate in the digital media arena.
