Dive Brief:
- Dollar General is moving to unify its offsite and onsite retail media advertising under one framework using a new solution supported by The Trade Desk and Kevel, according to a press release shared with Marketing Dive.
- Advertisers on DG Media Network for the first time will be able to plan, activate and optimize both offsite and onsite inventory within The Trade Desk platform using both managed and self-service methods. The aim is to provide a more complete picture of the consumer journey and open the door to new capabilites, including self-service onsite ad buying, in the future.
- A test period for managed service campaigns kicks off in June while mutual clients of The Trade Desk and Dollar General are expected to have access to the integration beginning in Q3, the release said. The partnership is indicative of a larger movement to bring more streamlining to a fragmented retail media landscape.
Dive Insight:
Dollar General believes the new solution from The Trade Desk and Kevel carries significant implications for the performance of campaigns running on DG Media Network. Retail media networks are racing to provide advertisers with more full-funnel capabilites, a trend that has led to an explosion of offsite ad offerings but also intensified fragmentation.
The integration harnesses The Trade Desk’s speciality in offsite advertising activation and bridges it with DG Media Network’s onsite inventory, creating greater interoperability and a more centralized view into consumer behavior. Offsite channels, including connected TV, digital audio, and video, will have more consistent campaign reporting and measurement with onsite inventory that is controlled by the retailer.
The solution, positioned as an industry first, is supported by Kevel, which supplies ad servers, campaign monitoring tools and other technology to retail media networks. It leverages Kevel’s Retail Media Cloud API-based infrastructure to link DG Media Network onsite inventory to offsite activation from The Trade Desk.
“Onsite and offsite have operated as separate worlds, and advertisers have had to piece together performance from disconnected systems. This collaboration with Dollar General and The Trade Desk changes that and creates something fundamentally new,” said James Avery, founder and CEO at Kevel, in a statement. “We’ve built the infrastructure that makes true full-funnel activation possible, where onsite and offsite inventory are decisioned and measured together in a single, coherent framework.”
The news follows Dollar General expanding its in-store audio network through a partnership with QSIC in April. Like many retailers, Dollar General sees its retail media network as a valuable profit driver that can appeal to advertisers seeking campaign tools powered by first-party data.
“Our DG Media Network strategy is focused on accelerating onsite performance through improved search, sponsored products and a stronger e-commerce experience while expanding our ability to capture emerging offsite spends across social, connected TV and video,” said Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos on a March earnings call with analysts.
