We are in a boom time for retail media across every sector, but some of the most exciting developments are in grocery.
In retail, grocery is the closest to a universal experience: filling a grocery cart is something we all share, far more so than other retail categories such as clothes or tools.
Some of the biggest grocers in the world are already investing heavily in clever retail activations, with a view to bringing the online and in-store shopping experiences closer together.
The idea is to create one, seamless checkout for shoppers both online and offline, with artificial intelligence helping to boost the experience via personalised adverts and insights, writes Regina Ye, CEO and Co-founder of Topsort.
Why is it so important to bring the in-store and online grocery shopping experiences together? Recent research by FMI and NielsenIQ shows that over 90% of grocery shoppers buy both online and in-store. For organisations in the sector, the value of these omnichannel shoppers is enormous: research by Grocery Doppio found that omnichannel shoppers spend 1.5 times as much as single-channel shoppers, generating a healthy average profit margin of 25.6%. For grocers, finding ways to tailor and boost their retail media strategies to target this particular demographic of shoppers will be crucial to success in 2025.
Retail media is bridging online and offline
Leaders in the grocery sector are seizing the opportunity to invest in retail media in this time of growth, aiming to boost customers’ experiences in-store and online. The recent State of Digital Grocery: In-Store Media Monetization report by Grocery Doppio highlighted the importance of retail media to grocers in 2025: almost 88% of grocers identify retail media as among their top growth priorities, and almost three-quarters (73%) of grocers view media monetisation as a priority to be dealt with by the C-suite. Grocers are trying to bridge the gap between online and offline, tapping into their rich stores of first-party data to deliver highly targeted advertisements to customers whether they are shopping in-store or online.
Why omnichannel matters
In recent months, several grocers have shown off interesting and impactful activations which help to bridge the worlds of online and offline shopping. Stop & Shop, a supermarket chain in the Eastern U.S. with 365 locations, introduced kiosks which offer offline customers a digital-style experience even while offline. Leaders at Stop & Shop realised that not every customer had a smartphone, or access to computers for digital-only deals, and introduced “Savings Stations” within brick-and-mortar locations. The kiosks allow customers to scan loyalty cards or enter a phone number to access digital coupons and personalised offers, meaning that the store can meet customers where they are, creating a blend of online and offline experiences.
Another clever activation is the partnership between grocery discounter ALDI and Instacart to boost the in-store shopping experience using Instacart’s Connected Stores technology. ALDI’s In-Store mode helps customers in the U.S. find in-store deals, check if items are in stock and navigate the aisles effectively, helping to build a seamless and unified experience.
In Austria, ALDI is testing an even more ambitious idea: Caper Carts, AI-powered shopping carts with a screen that allows shoppers to scan items, check out seamlessly and track their spending as they go. The idea is to create a more ‘online’ shopping experience, offering a digital ‘sidekick’ in the aisles, which not only helps customers save time and money, but also makes them feel valued.
A truly forward-thinking example is the checkout-free warehouse club Sam’s Club in Grapevine, Texas. The Sam’s Club app allows customers to scan and pay for items, leading to a more streamlined checkout experience. The membership-only warehouse club also offers experiential shopping, which allows shoppers to try out items while they are in store, then order them online at a later date. Like the other activations here, it shows how forward-thinking stores can create a personalised shopping experience both in-store and online, making life easier for customers in brick-and-mortar stores and shopping digitally.
How AI is helping to create the store of the future
The ‘secret sauce’ behind many of these impressive activations is artificial intelligence (AI) which is helping to build the grocery store of the future. Research by eMarketer in 2024 found that retail media impressions grew 28% year-on-year and clicks had grown by 20%, highlighting how AI-driven strategies are driving consumer engagement. For grocers who hope to take their retail media strategies omnichannel, investing in AI is not a nice-to-have but an essential.
The AI-powered retail media strategies which grocers are investing in include platforms that allow grocers to analyse huge amounts of data to personalise promotions, optimise ad placements and offer insights to help with inventory management. AI-based bidding platforms are also offering advertisers the flexibility to adjust bids based on everything from the time of day to the media channel, enabling advertisers to create campaigns that really hit home.
When it comes to AI’s use in in-store applications specifically, AI is doing wonders to benefit attribution improvement. It helps retailers accurately connect sales and engagement to specific touchpoints, across all devices and channels. This deep understanding of the customer’s journey allows grocers to understand which marketing efforts are driving the most impact, ultimately boosting ROAS and enabling more strategic investment in what’s working. AI is vital to bridging the online and offline worlds for grocers, helping to reimagine the shopping experience and create the shop of the future.
A smarter future
The future of retail media in grocery stores is to make the shopping experience feel like a single, smooth and polished transaction, regardless of whether customers are offline or online. Grocers should aim to use smart, omnichannel retail media to streamline, personalise and bring joy to the shopping experience. By doing so, they can be part of retail media’s next big wave. AI-based technologies will be a vital part of doing this, and will deliver yet more clever, delightful activations that offer customers a reason to return to their best-loved stores, whether online and offline.
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