News Briefs

Petco Health and Wellness Co.'s board of directors has appointed Five Below CEO and former Walmart executive Joel D. Anderson as CEO, effective July 29. He will also serve on the company's board.

"I am excited to join Petco at a pivotal time as we reposition the business for a stronger future," Anderson said in a statement. "Petco is the leader in pet health and wellness and I see many opportunities to improve performance."

Interim CEO R. Michael Mohan will transition from his current role on July 29 to chair a board committee focused on Petco's ongoing value creation initiatives, working with Anderson to ensure a smooth leadership transition.

"On behalf of the board of directors, I extend our deepest gratitude to [Mohan] for his dedication and leadership," said Glenn Murphy, executive chairman of the board. "He has made a meaningful impact as our interim CEO over the past few months, effectively stabilizing our operations and setting us on the path for continued improvements in performance."

Anderson’s Background

Anderson has been CEO of specialty discount chain Five Below, where he led the company's U.S. expansion from 366 stores to more than 1,500, helped launch an e-commerce site, optimized operations, expanded into new categories and saw revenue grow from $500 million to more than $3.5 billion.

Anderson also previously spent three years as president and CEO of Walmart.com, from 2011-2014, and for four years before that as divisional senior vice president of Walmart's Northern Plains division, overseeing 100,000 associates and more than $25 billion in annual sales. Prior to that, he held various executive positions at Toys R Us over a 14-year period.

Additionally, Anderson currently serves on Sprouts Farmers Market’s board as a director and is a member of the audit and compensation committees.

Through a new partnership, Loop Media, a multichannel streaming connected TV platform, will utilize DoubleVerify’s pre-bid fraud and invalid traffic protection solution from its DV Marketplace. The solution will help Loop avoid serving advertisements to sites identified by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) as invalid or fraudulent. The platform will also leverage DV’s measurement and reporting tools.

Loop provides curated music videos, sports highlights, news and entertainment channels through its Loop TV service.

As global CTV advertising spend continues to grow, publishers and advertisers are looking to ensure their media dollars are being spent on valid traffic. Loop said in a statement that its partnership with DV helps to protect advertisers against fraudulent and invalid CTV traffic. This partnership also enables Loop to optimize inventory across its network.

"DV’s pre-bid protection and media quality verification solution further solidifies our commitment to creating an effective, safe and transparent CTV ecosystem for both advertisers and our platform partners,’” Jon Niermann, founder of Loop, said in the statement. 

DV offers a set of solutions for CTV environments and detects fraud schemes across inventory types and devices. Loop aims to improve its own supply side offerings with DV's capabilities and fraud measurement tools. 

“As CTV continues to grow as a critical component of media strategies, it is essential for publishers and advertisers to have confidence in the integrity of their media investments,” added Steve Woolway, executive vice president of business development at DoubleVerify. 

Nature Made, a national supplement brand owned by Pharmavite (a P2PI member), has been named in the 2024 “Best OTC Medicine & Health Products" ranking by U.S. News & World Report in multiple vitamin and supplement categories.

In partnership with market research firm The Harris Poll, U.S. News’ annual survey asked hundreds of U.S.-practicing medical experts, including 354 pharmacists and 122 dermatologists, to score more than hundreds of brands across 132 OTC categories this year. The results ranked Nature Made as the No. 1 brand for:

• Best Vitamin Brands: Nature Made
• Best Potassium Supplements: Nature Made Potassium Gluconate
• Best Natural Sleep Aids: Nature Made Melatonin
• Best Prenatal Vitamins: Nature Made Prenatal Folic Acid
• Best Fish Oil Supplement with Omega-3: Nature Made Fish Oil
• Best Herbal Supplements: Nature Made
• Best Turmeric Supplements: Nature Made Turmeric
• Best Vitamin C Supplements: Nature Made Vitamin C
• Best Vitamin D Supplements: Nature Made Vitamin D
• Best Vitamins and Supplements for Energy: Nature Made Super B Energy Complex
• Best Zinc Supplements: Nature Made Zinc
• Best Diabetic Multivitamins: Nature Made Daily Diabetes Health Pack

“On behalf of the entire Nature Made team, we’re incredibly honored that healthcare professionals have recognized Nature Made as the leading brand in several key vitamin and supplement segments,” Jeff Boutelle, CEO, Pharmavite, said in a statement. “As consumers look to pharmacists for guidance on over-the-counter choices now more than ever, we value this recognition in such a wide range of categories.”

For the survey, The Harris Poll randomly assigned product categories to medical experts and asked them to rank their top three recommended brands. More than 900 brands, which were vetted against several factors including quantity of internet reviews or high search volumes, were included in the survey. The brands that were highly ranked most often are recognized as No. 1 for the corresponding categories.

“Continuing our commitment to offer consumers trusted, data-backed ratings and rankings to help with their health care decisions, the 2024 evaluation features statistically ‘best’ brands,” added Sumita Singh, general manager of health at U.S. News.

Walgreens Advertising Group (WAG), the drugstore giant’s retailer media network, is focusing on “a summer of upleveling” when it comes to brand solutions, the retailer said in a media release shared with the Path to Purchase Institute.

The first move: piloting digital in-store signage in select stores across 30 states this fall.

The announcement came just after Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth said in a June 27 earnings webcast that a “significant” portion of underperforming stores would close over the next three years. 

“Currently, 75% of our [approximately 8,700] U.S. stores contribute roughly 100% of our segment AOI (adjusted operating income),” Wentworth said in the webcast. “For the remaining 25% of the stores in our network which are not currently contributing to our long-term strategy, changes are imminent. … For the remaining portion of this cohort, we are taking action to improve profitability.”

Walgreens’ stores will continue to play a pivotal role in the company's strategy as it bolsters its digital signage/offerings, customer experience and brand opportunities.

[P2PI members can view Walgreens extensive Retailer Profile, including its Retail Media strategy, Store Formats/Growth, Displays and Signage and more]

Abi Subramanian, group vice president, customer loyalty and media monetization, Walgreens, says the company believes the introduction of “Digital In-Store” will help raise adoption of its key programs, such as one-hour delivery and buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), plus drive cross-category shopping and impulse purchasing by influencing customer decisioning.

"The next six-plus months will be a key learning period to test and learn from our 'Digital In-Store' technology and find the ideal mix of placements and messaging that resonates with our customers,” Subramanian said in the release.

Independent ad technology company PubMatic has hired two executives from Criteo and Walmart Connect to its commerce media team. These strategic hires will play a crucial role in advancing PubMatic's unified self-service ad platform, Convert, and expanding its impact across the commerce media landscape, according to a media release.

Tim Rogers, vice president of commerce media, leads PubMatic’s global commerce media strategy, focusing on revenue growth and strengthening the company’s market position. He reports to Amar Goel, the company’s founder, chairman and chief innovation officer. 

Rogers’ experience spans more than 20 years, previously serving as the SVP of enterprise go-to-market strategy at Criteo, where he brought demand and supply solutions to market for retailers, brands and agencies, and was key in the company’s focus on commerce media.

Somesh Bindu, vice president of commerce media product management, leads product strategy and ensures strong execution across Convert and PubMatic’s commerce and retail media product portfolio. He reports to Nishant Khatri, the EVP of product management. 

Bindu previously held product-focused leadership roles at Amazon Advertising and, most recently, Walmart Connect, where he developed products like Walmart’s self-serve platform and Advertising APIs.

“With Rogers leading [PubMatic’s] global strategy and Bindu spearheading product management, we are well-positioned to unlock new opportunities and deliver exceptional value to our partners and clients,” Goel said.

PubMatic’s Convert, launched in July of 2023, enables commerce companies, such as recent partners Instacart and Klarna, and advertisers to use one platform to upload, share, execute and measure onsite and offsite full-funnel campaigns.

Target has teamed up with global commerce platform Shopify to offer products from new and trendy merchants on Target Plus, the retailer's third-party, invite-only digital marketplace. 

As of June 24, U.S. companies that work with Shopify can apply to join Target Plus through Shopify’s Marketplace Connect app. The partnership enables the Minneapolis-based retailer to hand-select popular and emerging Shopify products and brands, such as those from True Classic and Caden Lane. 

Target also will be the first mass retailer to offer select Shopify products in its physical stores in the months to come, according to a media release. 

[Also Read: Why Target’s Website is Invite Only to Outside Retailers]

"Target Plus invites consumers to explore a curated collection of products from vendors we trust, so they can shop our assortment with confidence," Cara Sylvester, executive vice president and chief guest experience officer, Target, said in the release. "Our partnership with Shopify extends the breadth of thoughtfully designed and affordable items available to discover and enjoy as part of Target's distinctive mix of brands shoppers love." 

Launched in 2019, Target Plus leverages in-house “curation experts” to hand select and invite trending, premium, direct-to-consumer and national brands to sell on the third-party marketplace within Target.com. The marketplace now features more than 2 million products from 1,200-some suppliers, such as Crocs, Maui Jim and Timberland.

"Partnering with Target helps high-growth brands like Caden Lane and True Classic reach millions of new loyal customers and take their business to the next level," added Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify.