CVS, 7-Eleven hop on the in-store retail media bandwagon

The news: Retailers are expanding in-store retail media opportunities in response to surging interest from advertisers.

• CVS partnered with The Trade Desk and Vibenomics to offer self-service audio ads to shoppers in 6,900 stores.
• 7-Eleven plans to expand its Gulp Radio network to 5,000 stores by the end of 2024, and to all 12,000+ 7-Eleven, Speedway, and Stripes locations nationwide by the end of next year.
• Save a Lot is working with Retail Media Fluent Network to install digital screens at its stores, including 750 independently owned and operated locations across 32 states. The retailer currently has 400 digital window signs across nearly 100 stores, with plans to double that number by Q1 2025.
• Instacart is bringing its smart Caper Carts to a number of independent retailers, including Geissler’s Supermarkets and Bowman’s Market, in addition to a partnership with Australian grocer Coles Supermarkets.

The opportunity: In-store retail media makes up a small—but rapidly growing—piece of total retail media spend, as advertisers look to take advantage of retailers’ large in-store audiences and reach shoppers closer to the point of purchase.

• Advertisers allocated 18% of their retail media budgets to in-store media this year, up from 7% in 2022, per a Bain survey.
• Such investments can deliver sizable results: 7-Eleven noted that stores outfitted with its Gulp Radio capabilities saw a 5% to 9% lift in overall sales.

Instacart is also seeing early results from its Caper Cart rollout.

• Shoppers who use the carts tend to buy more, CEO Fidji Simo said on the company’s Q3 earnings call, which is helping to convince more retailers to sign on.
• Instacart has quadrupled the number of Caper Carts in stores over the past six months, although the complexity of integration is slowing grocers’ implementation of the technology.

Our take: We expect in-store retail media spend to top $1 billion by 2028, as advertisers look to leverage the 83.8% of total retail sales—and 87% of grocery sales—that take place in stores.

Still, there are growing pains. Many retailers are hesitant to outfit stores with the complex and expensive technology needed to carry out in-store campaigns (like digital screens, electronic labels, and smart carts), and worry about creating too much friction for customers. And as with retail media writ large, the lack of standardization around measurement could be off-putting for advertisers who want—or need—to demonstrate clear ROI.

Go further: Read our In-Store Retail Media 2024 report.