Kroger’s Cara Pratt on the unexpected value of knowing your audience’s grocery preferences

Retail media is on the tip of every marketer’s tongue this year — and for good reason. It’s expected to be the fastest-growing channel in the world, estimated to reach $122 billion in 2023, according to research from WARC Media.

Cara Pratt, Kroger’s SVP of retail media, launched the Kroger Precision Marketing media network in 2017, pioneering the use of retail media, with a sharp focus on leveraging the supermarket chain’s robust data set and building its analytics capabilities.

Pratt joins The Current Podcast to talk about how her team of data scientists can tap in to purchase data from 60 million households to create more personal experiences for shoppers. Now Pratt, who was among Ad Age’s leading women of 2022, is working on the next evolution of retail media.

“Fifteen years ago, there were a lot of personalized touchpoints where we could send relevant content and relevant offers to peoples’ homes,” Pratt says. “Over time, the evolution has moved into digital domains. Last year alone, we served over 2 trillion personalized product recommendations on our web properties. Half of the items that are added to the basket are due to personalized search results. Think about the opportunity that unveils to reduce wasted impressions for brands to create this moment of delight. It’s a really powerful asset.”