Kroger Partners with Omnicom to Reduce Media Waste

Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) has entered into a strategic partnership with Omnicom Media Group, the media services division of Omnicom Group, to deliver early adopter opportunities to Omnicom clients. Kroger Precision Marketing is Kroger’s retail media network powered by 84.51.

The agreement will launch with KPM feeding its SKU-level store inventory data daily to Omni, Omnicom's open operating system that facilitates the entire consumer purchasing journey. This data is important to Omnicom because none of Kroger’s data is included in Omnicom's Supply Chain IQ Score, which helps brands efficiently re-direct media spend to deliver on business KPIs in a supply-strained environment.

The deal marks the first formal collaboration with this dataset between KPM and an agency holding company, according to a recent news release from Omnicom.

According to a 2022 White House economic report, the supply chain disruption that erupted during the height of the COVID-19 crisis is not fading even as pandemic precautions ease. With inventory challenges continuing, it’s crucial for marketers to quickly adjust their media spend to product availability without negatively impacting performance. At the same time, retailers should support efforts to better align advertising to product availability, so customers aren't being driven to products that aren't available.

Launched in May, the Supply Chain IQ Score leverages data from top U.S. retailers and distributors to give media planners day-to-day visibility into SKU inventory data at the physical store and digital shelf levels. This close look enables media investment to be quickly shifted away from low-inventory products, and toward another SKU in the brand portfolio that has high repeat purchase behavior, healthy inventory and strong market basket correlation to the low-inventory item, according to the release.

This partnership with KPM will provide product availability data across Kroger's 2,700-some stores in 35 states, as well as fulfillment rates from e-commerce orders and market basket insights around SKUs purchased together and substituted — not currently available through other third-party platforms.

"The combination of Kroger's reach — 50% of U.S. households — and the greater depth of visibility that its unique inventory data enables, adds scale and utility to the Supply Chain IQ Score,” Omnicom Media Group chief activation officer Megan Pagliuca said in the release. 

Pagliuca added that it enhances account teams' ability to reduce media waste, meet brand performance goals and assure positive consumer experiences in a strained environment.