Retail / news
Kroger Precision Marketing profit climbs 24% as retail media takes earnings spotlight
Kroger's retail media arm posted 24% profit growth in the second quarter, its strongest since 2021, while the grocer's e-commerce sales rose 20%.
Kroger Precision Marketing, the grocery chain's advertising division, recorded a 24% increase in second-quarter profit, CEO Greg Foran told investors on a Friday morning conference call. He called it the company's best retail media profit growth since 2021.
Media monetization expanded 88 basis points over the past year, Foran said. Kroger also reported that e-commerce sales grew 20%, marking a second consecutive quarter of profitable e-commerce growth.
Foran raised e-commerce and retail media within the opening moments of the earnings call, before any mention of traditional merchandising, underscoring how much weight advertising now carries in the retailer's strategy.
A Kroger Precision Marketing spokesperson said the division's growth came from higher on-site customer traffic along with new brand opportunities, including shopping assistant ads and collaborations across social media and programmatic advertising.
"Stronger collaboration between our merchandising and media teams expanded advertising inventory, and optimization efforts improved visibility and conversion for our brand partners," Foran said.