Best Buy lets advertisers directly target its customers

A consumer electronics giant is signing on with a digital third-party ad network.

Best Buy is enabling advertisers to use Criteo’s cross-retailer, self-service platform to reach BestBuy.com and BestBuy.ca shoppers in the U.S. and Canada. Through sponsored products, the platform will help Best Buy customers further discover and purchase products.

The Criteo retail media platform enables brand marketers and agencies to reach consumers shopping on e-commerce sites, while executing campaigns with full transparency and control. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, Criteo’s retail media ads will conform to the same targeting and personalization as Best Buy’s organic product placements, ensuring a seamless and relevant shopper experience.

With Best Buy joining its retail media platform, Criteo will continue to support sponsored product ads for the retailer, while enabling advertisers to leverage several formats, targeting options, and flexible measurement models to target customers across their entire shopping journey.

An increasing number of retailers have been opening their customer bases to third-party digital advertisers, either through partnerships with retail media platforms or via proprietary networks. However, Best Buy is bucking a general trend of grocery and CPG retailers engaging in this type of targeted promotional activity.

For example, Walmart recently rolled out a demand-side platform for suppliers and their media and ad agencies in time for the 2021 holiday season. Initially announced during the introduction of the Walmart Connect media platform in January 2021, the Walmart demand-side platform (DSP) is a collaborative effort with independent demand-side platform The Trade Desk.

Meanwhile, Target launched its Roundel ad network in 2019 as a tool for CPG brands to create personalized digital ad campaigns aimed at Target customers. Roundel helps advertisers connect directly with Target's customers through personalized, relevant marketing messages across Target's owned platforms and hundreds of select off-platform channels. The discount giant just named Google veteran Sarah Travis as president of Roundel.

And at least four other big-name retailers with a sizable CPG assortment have launched similar digital third-party ad networks in the past year: Family Dollar, Walgreens, Kroger, and CVS.

“The full range of tech products and services that we provide to customers have helped us build relationships with them that extend well before and after they use their technology,” said Frank Crowson, chief marketing officer at Best Buy. “First-party data helps us enhance the customer experience both in stores and on BestBuy.com. By joining Criteo’s retail media platform, we’ll be able to better serve our customers with relevant content we know they’re looking for when shopping online.”

“Having worked together since 2015, we’ve seen Best Buy continuously evolve to meet the needs of their customers and create a uniquely loyal base of shoppers,” said Geoffroy Martin, executive VP and GM, growth portfolio at Criteo. “Brands and agencies see tremendous value in reaching Best Buy customers and, as part of our retail media ecosystem, advertisers have access to the most flexible tools for delivering a relevant experience.”

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Best Buy operates more than 1,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.