Ahold Delhaize reaches half a billion from ad revenue

Revenues from retail media are helping Ahold Delhaize keep prices low, CEO Frans Muller has revealed. The retailer has is “almost half-way” of its target of one billion euros in revenue from ads and data by 2025.

Keeping prices low

Ahold Delhaize is about half-way to its goal of generating one billion euros in sales by 2025 from activities such as selling ads on websites and in apps, and monetising insights from shopper data, CEO Frans Muller told Reuters.

According to Muller, Ahold Delhaize uses advertising revenues to keep food prices lower as inflation persists in Europe and the United States: “What we generate on retail media revenue, we will reinvest in our business to make sure that consumers can afford themselves healthy and sustainable products. We have to work very hard together, with retail and manufacturing, to keep costs down.” However, he would not reveal how much Ahold Delhaize earns when a customer clicks on a sponsored product or banner.

Targeted advertising

Last year, the retailer took a stake in Belgium-based company Adhese, a specialist in digital advertising technology. The aim is to offer customers tailored promotions and ads and gain deeper insights into shopper behaviour. For example, manufacturers can pay to have their brand appear at the top of customer searches, or target advertising to specific audiences.

More and more retailers are turning to retail media as an alternative source of revenue, following the example of Amazon and Walmart. French competitor Carrefour, for instance, launched the digital advertising platform Carrefour Links, which allows advertisers to set up targeted online activation campaigns based on real purchase data, and to measure the exact impact of those media investments.