Alliance Retail Group Launches Retail Media Network to Help Independent Grocers Compete

Alliance Retail Group (ARG) — a nonprofit self-negotiating ad group that helps independent grocers band together to remain competitive — has launched a retail media network (RMN) that will be powered by Swiftly. Through the new RMN, brands that sell at ARG’s more than 1,400 independent grocers will be able to connect directly with the 22 million consumers those retailers serve via digital and in-store campaigns.

Brands and retailers can now implement national omnichannel promotional campaigns quickly and cohesively across the ARG network, as well as collect sales data to create more effective and targeted promotions in the future.

“Independent retailers are under increasing pressure to deliver high-quality digital connections and personalized experiences to their customers in today’s competitive retail market,” said Sean Turner, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-founder of Swiftly in a statement. “This scale enables regional grocers to compete with retail giants like Walmart and Amazon for margin-rich retail media revenues.”

The service will be offered at no cost to ARG retailers, and those retailers will receive 100% of the dollars that ARG collects on their behalf for running the promotions, because “we feel this is business-critical in today’s competitive grocery landscape,” said ARG CEO Jena Sowers in a statement.

“We have already connected and supported our retail stores with a common technology platform,” explained Mike Bokarae, President of iPro Systems, ARG’s technology arm, in a statement. “This foundation is what allows us to be the hub of the retailer’s point of sale, supporting the aggregation and reporting of data like a large grocery chain. We are leveraging our consumers and our collective $16.5 billion in retail sales.

“Our data-rich environment will allow our vendor partners to target consumers on a hyperlocal basis to maximize their return,” Bokarae added. “This is an important step in our mission to use technology to make independent grocers a virtual chain in all facets of the business and deliver value that our retailers could not capture on their own.” 

The explosion of retail media has been so seismic that Insider Intelligence has crowned it the “third big wave of digital advertising” (search advertising and social media advertising were the first two). However, major retailers like Amazon and Walmart currently capture the lion’s share of ad sales. Solutions like this could help smaller players create the economies of scale needed to get a piece of this ever-growing pie. 

To learn more about retail media, check out our full guide here.