Kroger Precision Marketing Targets via Snapchat

Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) recently added a social touchpoint to its suite of retail media solutions: visual messaging app Snapchat.

Advertisers can target Kroger shoppers using the retailer's first-party data and evaluate results from Snapchat’s immersive ad formats, including Snap Ads and Story Ads. The core audience targeting is rooted in retail sales data from Kroger's loyalty programs.

“With third-party cookies on the verge of extinction, brands need ways to connect with their customers and activate effective digital campaigns on social platforms,” said Cara Pratt, senior vice president of KPM, in a news release. “Snapchat is one way we can help them do that."

Snapchat reaches more than 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds in more than 20 countries, representing more than 50% of global advertising spend, and has more than 363 million daily active users, according to Snap Inc. internal data.

Snapchat users wield $4.4 trillion in global spending power, according to a 2021 Global Cassandra Study commissioned by Snap Inc. KPM’s collaboration with the platform gives brand partners the ability to connect and engage that audience. 

Example segments available for targeting on Snapchat include:

• Current, Lapsed & New Brand Shoppers
• Category Shoppers
• Tender Type Shoppers
• Unique Diet Shoppers
• Package Label Qualifications
• Audience Extension Lookalikes
• Snapchat Interests & User Behavior

KPM already has similar existing media advertising offerings with Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, as well as with Pinterest, Pandora and Roku.

“Every social platform can play a unique role in a brand’s advertising strategy,” Brian Spencer, marketing director, KPM, told the Institute. “What is important for Kroger Precision Marketing is that we are helping brands safely connect with our shoppers wherever they may be spending time."

Presently, brands need to work with KPM directly to run targeted ads that leverage the retailer's first-party data on social media.

“[Kroger's] audience purchase behaviors are exclusively accessed through KPM and are not available elsewhere,” Spencer said. “For example, many brands find it advantageous to go directly through the social platform for mass-branding and use our audience data for more precise messaging based on purchase behaviors.”

Spencer added that while KPM’s Snapchat offering is still new, advertiser response has been positive.

The addition of Snapchat is the latest step in KPM's ongoing journey to engage relevant consumers where they spend their time. This follows KPM’s recent expansion of the Kroger Private Marketplace to include video and CTV inventory.

Using Kroger’s first-party data, brands can build custom audiences and reach the retailer's shoppers programmatically on the open web through the demand side platform (DSP) of their choice (typically executed through a media agency), Spencer said.