Albertsons is stepping up its retail media strategy.

The grocery chain’s advertising arm, Albertsons Media Collective, announced new tools to help brands better measure and compare their commerce ad performance across channels and retailers.

One of the tools — an application programming interface (API) — lets advertisers pull campaign data directly into their own dashboards, or share it with analytics partners. This means advertisers will be able to track and compare how their ads are performing in near real-time, all within their own systems.

Additionally, Albertsons has partnered with TransUnion, a credit reporting firm known for data and analytics, to bring in its TruAudience marketing mix modeling (MMM) solution. The tool helps brands connect the dots between their ads and real-world business results. Together, the solutions aim to help brands better optimize their ad strategies, with the ultimate goals of increasing sales and return on investment.

Albertsons is No. 19 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales, where it is classified as a Food & Beverage retailer.

Albertsons retail media additions

“Our latest API offering, coupled with a strategic partnership with TransUnion to begin to build a preferred partner catalog, allows us to meet this important demand, providing advertisers with a transparent way to understand and measure performance in one place, while also contributing to measurement standardization,” said Liz Roche, Albertsons Media Collective’s vice president of measurement and media, in a prepared statement.

Albertsons Media Collective, launched in 2021, places ads where they’re most effective — right in front of shoppers on channels like its website, app, and in emails. By collecting first-party data from the ads, Albertsons can give advertisers insights into what works and what doesn’t.

However, with so many retailers and channels offering their own ad platforms, brands often struggle to compare performance across the board. That’s where Albertsons’ new API comes in. The tool makes it easier for advertisers to combine the company-provided data with their broader campaigns for a full picture of how their ads are performing.

Tools for measuring ad performance

According to Albertsons, the aggregate-level campaign data is sent directly to a brand’s own dashboards or analytics tools, as well as agencies and measurement partners. Since the sharing happens in near real-time, advertisers can quickly see how their campaigns are performing and make adjustments, like changing targeting or budgets. The API is now available to all advertisers.

“The launch of our API is especially exciting in that it democratizes data access, enabling advertisers to integrate specific and custom campaign performance data for analysis in their own measurement models,” Roche told Digital Commerce 360 by email.

She added that the API offering is still in earlier phases and just getting started.

“We’re gathering feedback from advertisers in real-time to ensure it’s as actionable and relevant to their evolving needs as possible,” she said. “Access to the data — in a way that’s easy to understand and compare across channels — is an essential step in getting to a place of predictability of future outcomes for our advertisers.”

Albertsons’ approach to marketing mix modeling

Albertsons’ partnership with TransUnion takes ad measurement a step further with a tool called marketing mix modeling (MMM). The approach makes it easier and more efficient to compare performance across retailers and channels. MMM looks at the bigger picture, analyzing how all marketing efforts contribute to overall business success.

New privacy rules make it harder for companies to track individual shoppers at scale across platforms. But with MMM, brands don’t need to rely on personal data. Instead, they use broader trends to understand what’s working and where to invest more.

“Comprehensive marketing measurement is the key to unlocking the full potential of your marketing investments,” said Matt Spiegel, TransUnion’s executive vice president of TruAudience Marketing Solutions, in a statement. “Our partnership with Albertsons Media Collective empowers our clients to more accurately track and analyze the impact of their marketing efforts in retail media, so they can make data-driven decisions that maximize ROI and drive sustainable growth for their business.”

The partnership comes as MMM is becoming increasingly important. A recent eMarketer survey found that 61.3% of U.S. marketers plan to improve their MMM capabilities in the future.

Differentiating retail media offerings in a crowded space

Retail media is booming, with over 80 networks in the U.S. alone. While Amazon and Walmart dominate the market, other retailers like Albertsons are stepping up with more competitive offerings.

Last year, Albertsons launched Collective TV, a service that combines its shopper data with connected TV (CTV) advertising tools. This lets brands reach Albertsons’ customers while they’re streaming shows. Recently, the company expanded this offering to include video ads on NBCUniversal, Roche said.

Albertsons Media Collective also partnered with Fetch, a popular rewards app where shoppers can earn points for uploading receipts.

By continuing to expand its retail media capabilities and offering advanced tools, Albertsons is working to stand out in the fast-growing competitive space.

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