Dive Brief:
- Kroger’s data analytics firm, 84.51°, has launched Stratum, a tool that provides CPG brands with insights about product sales performance, according to a company press release.
- The platform tracks both online and in-store transactions and collects data on sales performance, inventory flow, assortment, promotions, customer segmentation and behavioral insights, new item performance and in-store space management.
- Stratum will offer a subscription-based service to brand partners, and Kroger will also use the tool in-house to evaluate its store brands.
Dive Insight:
Kroger could have simply developed this technology in-house and used it to benefit its own business. But commercializing Stratum adds an additional revenue stream at a time when the retailer is eagerly seeking to make money outside its core grocery business.
The trick will be convincing suppliers to spend the extra money with Kroger at a time when they're closely scrutinizing trade spending. Many CPG firms have struggled to grow sales lately, resulting in a pullback on advertising and in-store promotions.
Those trade dollars that are being spent, however, are increasingly moving online, and Kroger sees an opportunity to help suppliers navigate that shift while still keeping an eye on in-store sales. Some $55 billion in CPG trade spending will transition to digital platforms in coming years, according to a Gartner L2 report.
Kroger and 84.51° consolidated Kroger’s ad platforms under the new banner Kroger Precision Marketing in 2017. Since then, the marketing arm has pushed digital advertising for suppliers on digital real estate like Kroger.com and the Kroger mobile app. Last year it added Boosted Products, a self-service platform that allows brands to promote their products across Kroger’s digital channels, as well.
Other retailers are keen to offer insights and digital media tools for their CPG brand partners, too. Ahold Delhaize launched Peapod Digital Labs last November to provide data and insights for its own grocery banners and its CPG partners. Albertsons' digital media platform follows a similar format and has executed 300 campaigns for 150 CPG companies.
