News Briefs

Axonet, the convenience-store retail media network, announced a letter of intent to acquire RightSense AI, a provider of AI-driven analytics solutions supporting data-based decision-making.

Upon the acquisition's closing, Axonet would integrate RightSense's Fusion AI platform, technology, team and customer base into its operations.

The transaction supports Axonet's long-term vision to become a retail intelligence, media and measurement company, further strengthening its position at the intersection of retail media, data and technology.

By incorporating RightSense's tools, Axonet expects to reinforce the AI foundation of its ad-tech platform, Sophia AI, while also growing Axonet's retail intelligence capabilities.

The acquisition also expands Axonet's technical leadership with the planned appointment of RightSense CEO Sangam Sangameswara as Axonet's first CTO.

In this role, Sangameswara will lead Axonet's technology strategy and innovation roadmap across AI, data science and platform development.

RightSense and Axonet began working together last year, Sangameswara said in a statement. The acquisition reflects a shared vision to accelerate innovation and solve complex problems.

"RightSense's innovative approach to incorporating AI agents into impactful decision-making has impressed us since Day 1 of working with Sangam and [the] team," Axonet CEO Patrick Raycroft said.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

Instacart is now available as a connector in Claude, Anthropic’s conversational AI interface, enabling users to build a grocery cart while interacting with the chatbot — from a recipe, a weekly list or a prompt — with live inventory and personalization from an Instacart account. 

"Claude connects to Instacart’s experience, surfacing real options from nearby stores, with live product inventory and personalized results from your Instacart account," wrote Instacart CTO Anirban Kundu in a recent blog post. "Any cart you build stays in sync with your Instacart account, so you can pick up where you left off in our app or on our website whenever you’re ready to order."

Making this possible, according to Kundu, "is the intelligence layer Instacart has built over time. Millions of customers shopping across our platform have given us a deep understanding of how people actually buy groceries: what they substitute, what they won’t, where they shop and how. We also understand how preferences shift by season, occasion, and household through Smart Shop, our personalization engine. The experience isn’t generic — with Instacart’s understanding, it reflects your stores, your staples, your preferences. And that’s what you’ll see when you log in to Instacart in Claude."

He went on to describe Instacart as "the grocery infrastructure layer for agentic AI — present wherever the journey starts, whether that’s in our own app, through AI Solutions powering our retail partners’ digital experiences, or with AI assistants like Claude."

San Francisco-based Instacart partners with more than 2,200 retail banners — representing nearly 100,000 stores.

Grocery TV is working with ABCS Insights to bring independent, third-party sales lift measurement to in-store retail media. The partnership enables brands that advertise on Grocery TV's in-store digital advertising platform to directly link ad exposure to verified product purchases, both in-store and across other retail environments.

Investment in retail media continues to grow, and Grocery TV's partnership with the measurement and analytics platform provides a transparent, third-party measurement infrastructure to brands in the brick-and-mortar space. ABSC Insights' 41-million household panel combines receipt and card transaction data to deliver in-depth measurement of campaigns. 

Among early findings, per Grocery TV:

• A national candy brand delivered an 11.7x incremental return on ad spend (iROAS) and drove $2.7 million in incremental sales during a two-month seasonal product launch campaign. 
• A leading beverage brand achieved 5x iROAS, $1.4 million in incremental sales, and a purchase frequency increase of 5%. On-platform ad exposure also drove a 16% sales lift.

"In-store media delivers measurable results across the full shopper journey, and our measurement approach reflects that," Marlow Nickell, co-founder and CEO, Grocery TV, said in a media release. "ABCS adds an important layer of rigor for sales lift, so brands can see the incremental impact of their campaigns with independent verification."

This partnership builds on Grocery TV's full-funnel measurement offerings. In 2025, Midwestern grocer Hy-Vee was the first to deploy Grocery TV's closed loop measurement tools. ABCS Insights' partnership builds on these capabilities with a third-party, panel-based approach, offering added transparency and scale.

Emerging retailer Beautyspace is partnering with U.S. department store chain Belk to expand its brick-and-mortar presence.

To bring beauty brand discovery to a broader audience, Belk in late March launched Beautyspace in five shopping mall locations across North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama.

Beautyspace is using a dedicated shop-in-shop concept that features a carefully curated mix of emerging, founder-led and high-growth brands across skincare, hair care, body care and fragrance.

The assortments will prioritize product efficacy, inclusivity and storytelling, while aligning with the Belk customer, according to a news release.

In‑store brands include Rose Inc., IGK, Oak Essentials, Algenist, Briogeo, Malin + Goetz, Floral Street, Patchology and more, with an even broader assortment available online.

The partnership aligns Beautyspace’s contemporary, discovery-driven retail model with Belk's established regional footprint and loyal customer base.

The two retailers aim to redefine the in-store beauty experience by combining Beautyspace's curated variety of brands with Belk's easy-to-shop store environment.

Chicago-based market research firm Circana has launched Liquid Activation, a solution that brands, agencies and media partners can use to build, customize and activate purchase-based audiences.

Liquid Activation takes verified consumer purchase data and behavioral insights and lets marketers size, build and distribute audiences in minutes, helping teams navigate modern media planning's rapid pace across a highly fragmented landscape. 

The Liquid Activation workflow takes Circana's cross-channel, cross-industry consumer intelligence — including verified signals from 200,000 static omnichannel receipt panelists and 500 million loyalty cards — and blends that data with deep panel insights, arming marketers with precise information and the ability to quickly size segments, combine diverse behavioral signals and push dynamic targeting strategies directly to media partners. 

"Our liquid activation solution transforms the way marketers approach audience creation," Cara Pratt, president of global retail and media at Circana, said in a news release. "By seamlessly integrating diverse data assets — including insights from all channels of trade, food service and receipt panels — brands and agencies can move swiftly from consumer understanding to precise audience activation. This innovation empowers our clients to connect with high-value consumers across industries with exceptional speed and accuracy."

The Liquid Activation solution helps brands reach high-value consumers across the entire marketing funnel by connecting consumer purchase data with media activation. It also integrates seamlessly across a wide range of publishers, media platforms and marketing technologies, providing flexibility and scale for consumer-informed audience targeting.

Meijer is partnering with retail media technology company Pentaleap to support a relevance-first approach to sponsored products within its retail media program.

The collaboration enables Meijer to unify organic results and sponsored placements within a single ranking framework, ensuring that relevance — not bid strength alone — determines what consumers see.

The result aims to be a sponsored search program that delivers stronger engagement and healthier advertiser outcomes without sacrificing shopper experience.

With Pentaleap, Meijer can launch new variants rapidly, make incremental changes and measure results, enabling a data-driven retail media operation, according to a news release.

The platform also supports orchestration across Meijer's existing demand partners, reinforcing an open ecosystem approach rather than vendor replacement.

Following a testing period, Meijer pursued a unified ranking approach across sponsored and organic products, using Pentaleap's ad server, while ensuring business continuity with their existing front-end technology.

"Retail media only works long term if it earns customer trust," Andreas Reiffen, Pentaleap CEO and co-founder, said in the release. "Meijer's approach shows that relevance isn't just better for shoppers — it's better for advertisers too. By giving teams full control to test, adjust and learn quickly, we're helping retailers prove that relevance-first strategies deliver sustainable outcomes."

The collaboration reflects a broader industry shift toward open, modular retail media stacks that prioritize interoperability, experimentation and long-term performance over short-term bid optimization.