At a Glance

  • Albertsons' retail media division announced on Tuesday that it hasintegrated sponsored product discoveryinto its AI-powered conversational search tool.
  • The new feature, powered by commerce intelligence platform Criteo, enables brands to influence consumers as they plan meals, search for products, and build their shopping carts.
  • The announcement comes as AI's rapid evolution and continued adoption in the grocery industry are creating new advertising capabilities for retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies.

Deep Dive

As consumers increasingly use AI to streamline grocery shopping and planning, Albertsons Media Collective is further internalizing this capability—and this latest integration also brings brands closer to key moments of high purchase intent.

Albertsons said its expanded partnership with Criteo modernizes its existing conversational search capabilities. According to a press release, select sponsored products can now appear in Albertsons' product carousel search results, and these products are relevant to the consumer's search query.

"This integration is designed to create a retail media that helps customers through their shopping journey, presented in a useful and value-added way, while providing advertisers with a new path closer to the moment of purchase." — Jill Pavlovich, senior vice president of digital customer experience at Albertsons, said in a statement.

This is not the first time Albertsons Media Collective has leveraged third-party partnerships to strengthen its in-house retail media operations. The company has previously partnered withCollective TV、RoktandCapgeminiand partnered with Criteo in early 2023 to improve access todemand-side and supply-side advertising capabilitiesto drive measurable business outcomes.

Last week, Albertsons Media Collective also announced it hasbegun offering brand entertainment content, a service that leverages first-party data and can be distributed through the grocer's media network.