Inside Brands’ Evolving Internal Ad Businesses

Retailers are gunning for advertising dollars.

Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart are among a growing number of retailers betting on the growth of e-commerce and hoping that advertising can offset retail’s thin margins.

They’re pitching advertisers on data that shows what people buy and when they shop. And they’re hiring to build adtech and relationships with advertisers.

Insider is keeping track of all the moves in the space.

Amazon dominates retail media

Tom Williams/Getty Images

Amazon has become the third-biggest digital advertising company behind Google and Facebook and dominates how brands spend e-commerce ad dollars. Amazon netted $31 billion in advertising in 2021 — up from $21 billion in the same period in 2020.

This growth has led Walmart, Instacart, Walgreens and other retailers to build their own platforms to grab a slice of the ad pie.

Read more: Amazon just broke out advertising for the first time in its earnings. Here’s everything we know about its growing ad business.

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Alan Moss is spearheading Amazon’s push to steal ad dollars from Facebook and Google. Insiders lay out his playbook for getting a slice of the $70 billion TV ad market.

Walmart and other big-box retailers

Walmart, Kroger, and other big-box stores are trying to copy Amazon’s advertising business by pitching their shopper data, which could benefit small brands who often struggle to outbid big advertisers on Amazon.

But each retailer has custom ad buying, targeting, and measurement, making it hard for advertisers to manage ad campaigns across all of them.

Read more: A Walmart sales presentation reveals how it’s trying to nab e-commerce ad dollars from Amazon

Albertsons is ditching its longtime advertising partner to build an ad business internally. A top exec describes how it’ll work.

Grocery giant Kroger is rolling out a new ad program to compete against Walmart and Target — here’s how it’s going to work, according to a top exec

Retailers like Walmart, Kroger and Instacart want to cash in on advertising, but their moves are causing huge headaches for brands

Instacart and other grocery delivery companies

Instacart

Grocery delivery companies like Instacart and Gopuff are getting into the ad business to offset food delivery’s slim margins, and they’re hiring accordingly.

Instacart pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising last year, and revenue from the operation could top $1 billion in 2022. DoorDash, to name another, is similarly trying to build an ad business while trying to stay on top of the food delivery wars.

Read more: Here’s a look inside Instacart’s playbook to take on Google and Facebook as it tries to build a $1 billion ads business

Instacart wants to build a billion-dollar ad business and take on Amazon and Walmart— advertisers list 3 things it needs to do to get their budgets

Food brands that once battled for space at Whole Foods are now betting on ultrafast-delivery startups like Gopuff and Buyk

Food delivery apps are piling into the advertising business. DoorDash revealed its playbook to take on Uber and Instacart in ad sales.

14 Instacart execs who are leading its push to take on Amazon and Walmart in advertising

Leaked pitch deck slides show how Instacart is aiming to turn advertising into a $1 billion business

Instacart just hired a top Walmart advertising exec. Here are 38 other big hires by companies that are gunning for ad dollars in 2022.

Shopify, Uber, and other retail media sellers

The retail media ad business stampede has extended to other companies, from Ulta to Shopify.

Shopify, which lets merchants sell products online, has plans to roll out a tool called Shopify Audiences, and let advertisers use its data to target ads on Facebook and Google, according to retail and advertising sources familiar with its plans. Ulta Beauty is rolling out an advertising arm to sell ads on its own platform, publisher sites, and social networks.

Read more: Shopify is planning a big push into advertising with a new targeting tool

E-commerce advertising is soaring — Ulta Beauty is the latest retailer to try to cash in

How eBay is trying to overhaul its advertising business to be more like Amazon and Walmart

Retail media is driving M&A

Growth in e-commerce advertising has been a boon for companies that manage advertisers’ spending on the likes of Amazon and Walmart as well as adtech firms that help retailers build ad businesses.

E-commerce M&A soared 50% between 2019 and 2020, showing the demand for companies that help merchants sell on third-party marketplaces, according to Pitchbook data via JEGI Clarity. Private equity firms like KKR and Blackstone have been particularly active, pouring money into warehouses and e-commerce holding companies.

Read more: 2022 is shaping up to be a big year for advertising M&A. Here are 10 trends to expect, from a jump in e-commerce ad deals to a surge in event marketing interest.

E-commerce agency The Stable is acquiring two of the biggest Shopify agencies to attract direct to consumer brands

Experts name 12 companies that are likely acquisition targets as online shopping takes off

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Private equity firms are betting billions on the rise of e-commerce. Execs at Blackstone, Trilantic North America, and others explain their strategy.