Schnucks Increases Retail Media Revenue by 7x with Instacart Carrot Ads Technology

Over 1,800 retail banners trust Instacart to help grow their business. As the leading grocery technology company in North America, we provide a retail enablement platform that has a wealth of solutions for ecommerce, fulfillment, retail media, and in-store operations.

We have also built the advertising solution which over 7,500 CPG brands trust to drive performant results against different business goals and objectives like acquiring new customers, maximizing sales, increasing brand awareness through reach and engagement. We power these ad experiences using proprietary machine learning (ML) technology to create media experiences that reach, inspire, and convert consumers.

Instacart offers both national advertiser demand and ML-driven ad technology through an all-in-one solution for retailers called Carrot Ads. Through the Carrot Ads solution, Instacart extends these proven advertising capabilities to the owned and operated digital properties of retailers, as well as connects advertisers with retailers to extend advertisers' reach while monetizing retailers' properties.

The plethora of retail media networks recently launched shows the appetite retailers have for the additional revenue advertising on their digital properties can bring. Many retailers face challenges maximizing the returns on implementing a retail media network. Do their properties attract enough traffic on their own to entice advertisers? Can they serve ads in such a way that they are relevant and personalized so that they do not detract from the consumer experience?

Many of our retailer partners have recognized the tradeoffs of doing it alone versus the benefits Instacart brings, trusting us to unlock ad revenue while serving advertisements that are relevant to consumers. 

One valued retailer partner, Schnucks, first partnered with Instacart in 2017 to introduce same-day delivery, and has since introduced a number of Instacart Platform technologies, including e-commerce, Caper Carts, Eversight, and Carrot Tags. The family-owned grocery retailer committed to nourishing people’s lives partnered with Instacart further to monetize their retail media in 2021. 

Their initial launch of ads involved running sponsored product ads on their owned and operated properties, Schnucks.com and the Schnucks mobile app. Early success saw Schnucks roll out additional formats. With Instacart, they enhanced the consumer experience on their owned and operated properties — providing personalized recommendations and introducing consumers to relevant products and brands. 

With this approach, Schnucks has seen a 2.6% click-through rate (CTR) on its website and 5.7x average return on ad spend (ROAS) with Sponsored Products ads^*. By adopting the Carrot Ads solution, they’ve unlocked new revenue streams, increasing their retail media revenue by 7x.

“In 2021, we had seen a seismic shift in consumer behavior extending from the pandemic and wanted to make sure that we were adjusting to the needs of our customers in the face of sweeping digital transformation in the grocery industry,” said Chace MacMullan, Senior Director of Digital Experience at Schnucks. “We partnered with Instacart to build our retail media network to help brands reach our customers and explore new revenue opportunities for our business. As we’ve continued to build our omnichannel ecosystem, we’ve increased the opportunity for brands to showcase new products in an increasing number of places and ways, which have performed very well.”

Schnucks joins the over 220 retailer banners that run Instacart ads on their owned and operated properties through Carrot Ads, the enterprise-grade ad tech platform, driving retail media revenue with trusted technology that connects advertisers with consumers in a relevant, additive way. 

Prior results do not guarantee future outcomes. 

*Representative of the average Sponsored Products performance to-date on Schnucks website and mobile app and does not include any other digital properties. Past performance does not promise future results, and outcomes may vary by brand.For more information about Carrot Ads, visit www.instacart.com/company/retailer-platform/carrot-ads