US Grocer Save Mart’s Retail Media Network Starts Testing Impacts Of In-Aisle Screens

May 1, 2024 by Dave Haynes

The volume of announcements lately about retailers launching their own media networks is staggering, as is the diversity of operators. I just saw a reference yesterday to a retail media network for Chuck E. Cheese, which for people outside North America is a themed play center/restaurant for kids.

I suppose anything can be a media environment, but the ones that really make sense are in places that sell a lot of consumer goods made by deep-pocketed, marketing-focused packaged goods brands … like big box mass merchandisers and supermarkets.

Which brings me to news of a in-store retail media network displays being tested by The Save Mart Companies, working with Quad/Graphics, Inc. and using the shelf-edge displays developed by DART Innovation, which Quad acquired a couple of months ago.

Save Mart, described as the largest private regional grocer on the West Coast, is testing in-aisle displays in 15 stores, across its three retail banners: Lucky, Save Mart and FoodMaxx. If the impact is as expected, the plan is to roll displays across the full, nearly 200-store estate.

The In-Store Connect network positions screens and kiosks throughout stores, “giving retailers and consumer packaged goods companies more impactful opportunities to deliver relevant promotions, share key product information and connect adjacent product options to shoppers, thus enhancing the overall shopping experience.”

From PR:

“Physical stores continue to account for the vast majority of retail sales, especially for grocers,” says Kevin Bridgewater, Senior Vice President of Strategic Retail Initiatives for Quad. “Teaming up with The Save Mart Companies on the In-Store Connect roll-out is a first-of-its-kind partnership that demonstrates how retailers can generate value for the brands on their shelves, the customers in their aisles and their own bottom lines by deploying high-impact, in-the-moment, in-store retail media networks that bridge physical and digital consumer connections.”

“The in-store experience is rapidly evolving, and In-Store Connect allows us to create an engaging, dynamic environment tailored to the location and time of day the shopper is moving throughout the store,” says Tamara Pattison, SVP and Chief Digital Officer of The Save Mart Companies.

The initial roll-out will demonstrate the platform’s ability to seamlessly integrate digital retail media into The Save Mart Companies’ existing in-store infrastructure and deliver relevant promotions and product information to shoppers in the form of digital kiosks, end caps, shelf screens and vertical banners. Upon successful completion of the inaugural phase, The Save Mart Companies plans to expand the platform to their remaining 179 stores in California and Nevada.

In February Quad announced its acquisition of DART Innovation, an in-store digital media solutions provider based in North Carolina. The strategic investment has expanded Quad’s proven capabilities in revolutionizing the shopping experience for retailers, CPGs and consumers and provides the technology infrastructure for the partnership with Save Mart. These recent actions bolster Quad’s ongoing and focused expansion of its data, media and in-store offerings.