PromoteIQ works with brand manufacturers and e-retailers to run brand-sponsored ads for products on such retailer sites as Kohl’s and Overstock.com.

Microsoft Corp. announced yesterday it has acquired marketing automation vendor PromoteIQ. The purchase price was not disclosed.

PromoteIQ works with manufacturers and e-retailers to place sponsored ads for products on ecommerce sites of retailers, including Kohl’s Corp., No. 24 in the Internet Retailer Top 1000, Office Depot Inc. (No. 19) B&H Foto & Electronics Corp. (No. 332) and Overstock.com Inc. (No. 48). The service enables online retailers to earn revenue from ads placed on their ecommerce sites and advertisers to target ads at shoppers based on their on-site activity.

PromoteIQ will maintain its brand and become a division within Microsoft Advertising, Rik van der Kooi, corporate vice president of Microsoft Advertising, writes in a blog post. 

“PromoteIQ’s technology strategically complements Microsoft’s current retail advertising offerings, and together, we can enable retailers with a portfolio of technology solutions to modernize their ecommerce platforms and maximize their monetization opportunity,” he writes.

PromoteIQ’s technology “reaches millions of shoppers daily and powers millions of dollars of vendor marketing revenue on behalf of some of the largest online retailers and brands in the world,” PromoteIQ writes in a blog post announcing the acquisition. “We’ve spent the last few years helping companies build and scale their vendor marketing programs with strong success, and now we are taking the next step in that journey.”

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PromoteIQ says it plans to use Microsoft’s size, expertise in AI and machine learning and global footprint to grow its business.

“We’ll have more plans to share on this front in the coming months, but we are confident that this acquisition will accelerate PromoteIQ’s growth and expand Microsoft’s reach and scale globally,” PromoteIQ writes.

In 2016, advertising technology vendor Criteo S.A. purchased HookLogic, a similar vendor to PromoteIQ. Criteo’s ad-targeting software powers product recommendation and bidding predictions.

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