New Kroger Platform Better Connects Brands With Shoppers Through Search Results

The Kroger Co. has introduced a self-service brands-to-consumer platform for marketing “hyper-relevant” products within search results across digital properties and viewing performance in real time.

Using the power of Kroger’s 84.51° personalization science, Kroger Precision Marketing, the retailer's marketing services and advertising solutions arm, will launch Boosted Products in Search, the new service, on June 4. Brands will be able to promote their online selection with product listing ads through the Kroger Precision Marketing platform by balancing cost-per-click bid pricing, customer relevancy and in-flight performance optimization. Native product integration will take SKUs appearing within search results, or within relevant categories, and feature them in high-visibility slots for the customer.

The move is part of the Restock Kroger initiative launched last fall by the Cincinnati-based grocer, according to Yael Cosset, Kroger’s chief digital officer. It will function as an alternative revenue stream for the retailer, increasing sales and basket size while enabling product discovery and tapping into unique, previously unavailable marketing channels. At the same time, it will give brands a platform needed to offer a more personalized online experience for customers.

The service will deliver a rewarding customer experience through household-level personalization integration and a machine learning-driven quality score which occurs in real time, accounting for store-level inventory, promotions, shifting consumer preferences and seasonality. This will power the search results algorithm and influence the priority ranking of boosted products for customers.

"Our private marketplace model will provide more transparency, more control and better performance for our consumer packaged goods partners," said Cara Pratt, 84.51°'s VP of customer communications. "Kroger customers will see more relevant ads and offers being served to them, and CPG companies will benefit from a more connected and streamlined approach to reaching their consumers."

The company has significantly increased its technology spending in 2018 in multiple areas, among them digital shopping, merchandising, in-store technologies, health and wellness, and payments.

The move is another example of the grocer's finding ways to help brands better connect with and market to shoppers through Restock Kroger. Last fall, the retailer rolled out a cross-channel media solution focused on precise personalized communication to customers at the right time with the right message in the right way.