Giant Eagle Expands Retail Media Reach

Giant Eagle’s Leap Media Group is taking another jump into retail media through a new collaboration with the Rippl data and media network. That network is powered by a cookie-less identity resolution technology from Bridg, a division of Cardlytics, Inc.

Giant Eagle is complementing its in-house retail media network with the partnership, according to Joell Robinson, the grocer’s senior director of media sales and activation. In an exclusive interview with Progressive Grocer, Robinson explained that the platform enhances Leap Media Group’s relationships with brands and consumers while helping solve challenges created by first-party limitations, aggregated data and disparate measurement approaches.

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“I think some of the challenges, from a regional retail media standpoint, are with scale. We really wanted to work with someone to find out what that national space is and to make it easier for CPGs to engage with us,” she said. “CPGs and media planners are looking for a way to engage with regional retailers but in a way that still makes sense for them. This presented a solution.”

Rippl amplifies regional retailers’ first-party data and gives advertisers a single access point to a national footprint of more than 70 million individual shopper profiles with SKU-level purchase data and enriching attributes. Through this capability, advertisers can tailor audiences based on actual product preferences, execute single campaigns across multiple retailers and consistently measure campaign performance across an aggregated landscape.

“A leading retailer may only know 20% of its customers. We can bring that to 80% and then we will attach 140 attributes to each profile,” Amit Gupta, COO of Cardlytics and general manager of Bridg, told Progressive Grocer. 

According to Gupta, technology is syncing up with shopper interests and behaviors and with brand priorities. “There are some macro trends going on in the grocery industry as we see consolidation, and we see that U.S. consumers are trying to be more discrete about what, where and how they are purchasing. There is really excitement across the board about how to step into this new data paradigm,” he said. 

That’s especially true for regional grocers like Giant Eagle and Rippl’s other partners, including Schnuck Markets, Inc. and Wegmans Food Markets, he added. “Not everyone has the same scale, investment dollars and engineering capabilities, but at the end of the day, regionals have such strong loyalty relations,” Gupta pointed out. 

To engender and ensure loyalty across its base, Giant Eagle’s Leap business will continue to offer its own unique solutions, Robinson confirmed. “These can engage simultaneously. There is different inventory that you can access through the media group – all of our onsite inventory is accessed throughout Leap Media Group. This is an enhancement for offsite media, and right now, that’s a huge benefit,” she said. 

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To her point about benefits, manufacturers and vendors can leverage both networks provided by Giant Eagle to get more out of their efforts. “We can work with our CPGs to say, ‘This is the other offering we have, and the Rippl team can engage with people we haven’t communicated with yet,” said Robinson.

She continued, “It’s really good timing for this because it gives CPGs time before the holidays. I’m excited to see the power it can have this holiday season.”

Ultimately, the ability to get this level of data helps grocers and brands meet shoppers where they are, which has been the marketplace battle cry of the past few years. “The shopper journey is a complex one and we have to make it easier for them. This helps – to have a message that’s cohesive across a retailer,” Robinson remarked. 

Gupta agreed. “Grocery’s impact on the end consumer is unparalleled and that excites us, as we bring engineered, data-driven solutions to the market,” he commented.

Giant Eagle operates approximately 480 stores throughout western Pennsylvania, north central Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. The Pittsburgh-based company is No. 42 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company one of its Top Regional Retailers.