NIQ & Pacvue Expand Alliance
Building on our established partnership, NIQ and Pacvue released expanded functionality this week. This collaboration connects historically siloed data, unlocking deeper insights to provide clients with the competitive edge needed to thrive in today’s omnichannel retail environment.
This alliance represents a significant advancement in how companies can leverage Pacvue’s unified cross-retailer platform to access comprehensive e-commerce analytics and actionable insights that optimize their retail media strategies, performance marketing, and sales growth.
Kroger & Albertsons Merger Fails
In 2022, Kroger and Albertson’s announced a mega-merger that would have been, well, a big deal. Since the merger would have likely impacted brands advertising on Albertsons via Criteo and Kroger via Kroger Precision Marketing, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the news. Announced earlier ths week, the proposed merger ended as the two largest U.S. grocery chains failed to convince multiple courts that they should be allowed to merge.
Omnicom Announces Intention to Acquire IPG
Speaking of M&A, on Monday, 12/9, Omnicom announced plans to acquire IPG by late 2025. While still in the early stages, this acquisition would make for an entity that would exceed Publicis, looking strictly at each company’s market cap.
This article by Adweek takes this exact perspective, looking at the implications of two advertising mega-corporations emerging off the tail of this Omnicom/IPG merger. From the article, Dan Maguire, Director of Retail Media at Gale, tells Adweek “Combining Flywheel’s capabilities with IPG’s recently acquired Intelligence Node could create a formidable retail media stack with both front-end optimization and back-end analytics.”
Consolidating companies brings some clear benefits to the stakeholders, cost savings (layoffs) for starters, but the main goal is likely to be broader and more related to data technology. This will clearly send shockwaves throughout the industry, but there is a long time to wait before 1. The courts and shareholders approve the deal and 2. The two entities merge capabilities in a meaningful way.
Questions will remain in the air while the deal progresses. Is consolidation good for advertisers? Are smaller acquisitions or partnerships affected by this announcement? Will growing pains occur for brands during the future, potential transition? A lot to consider, as this deal is a big deal.
Amazon Launches Car Dealership “Amazon Autos”
Amazon is truly selling everything nowadays. Announced this week, “Amazon Autos”, in partnership with Hyundai, now offers a a car shopping experience that will look quite familiar to Amazon shoppers.
Amazon plans to expand this feature with additional dealerships and features, including lease options in 2025. As it stands, the simple auto-shopping service connects customers to nearby dealers within its network, providing options for vehicles that are available for pickup… No need to worry about drones dropping sedans off at your front door anytime soon!
Grocery TV Expands Even Further
Supermarket chain Hy-Vee, with over 500 stores across the Midwest, announced their partnership with media solution GroceryTV this week. Hy-vee’s Retail Media Network, “Red Media” is almost a year old, and is, by all accounts, a major focus for the grocery company. They join an impressive list of retailers who partner with GroceryTV, growing out to over 5,000 stores across the United States and reaching an estimated 1 in 4 Americans.
Our take: Every week, while preparing the Friday 5, I start with a google search for news within retail media. It seems that every time I do, there is another article announcing a new partnership between a supermarket chain and a TV based retail media solution. Consistent, rapid expansion and adoption of a media type is what we call in the dating world a “green flag” – If you’re a grocery brand, you better have an idea of how in-store advertising fits into your media mix!
