What BFCM means for retail media
Plus: Kroger's onsite video, the Amazonification of Whole Foods, and more...
As Black Friday Cyber Monday creeps closer, I’m blasting out the PSA I feel the need to share every year: There's no such thing as seasonality in retail media!!!
I see it constantly: frozen dessert companies pulling back in the colder months, or baking brands going dormant after the holidays. Meanwhile, they're missing out on compound growth that's happening all year as new shoppers enter the platforms.
More shoppers joining these platforms daily means your addressable audience grows - regardless of whether it's peak season for your category. At Veriti, our clients see month-over-month gains throughout the year - including our 2+ year partnerships.
At the same time, now is NOT the time to spike your spend, unless you intend to sustain it at that level.
If holidays are a key tentpole for your brand, layer in some awareness tactics like display advertising instead of increasing sponsored search investment. You don’t want to get sucked into a Black Friday bidding war and end up fighting over Target shoppers that are on the hunt for consumer electronics, not groceries.
Retail media rewards consistency and compounds momentum. You don’t need to wait for a particular season - in retail media, the season is now.
Now, onto this week in retail media and shopper marketing →
The snacks + sips hitting our grocery carts this week: Central Market edition 🛒
Little's Coffee | Certified B Corp Cardamom Bun Instant Coffee
Central Market does such a good job of curating items from all over the world - and this one was such a fun find! This sustainability-focused, UK-based brand makes high-quality, flavored instant coffee without any added sugar or artificial sweeteners. I’m so excited to try this cardamom bun one for the chillier Texas months!
Jubilee's Flavored Milk - Banana Cream Pie
This is SUCH a smart product for parents with picky eaters. It’s organic, whole milk packed with nutrients and flavored with fruits and veg, but your kid would never know. This flavor is a fave in my household - it really does taste like sweet banana cream, but it’s made with no added sugar!
Roland Foods, LLC - Porcini Mushroom Israeli Couscous
I’m all for an instant, flavor-packed meal base - and this has been a recent favorite. Israeli couscous has a deliciously satisfying chew, and this one in particular comes with real, dried porcini mushrooms for extra flavor and texture. It has nothing artificial or funky added to it - literally just couscous, seasoning, and mushrooms. Plus, I’m loving their new packaging!
Featured retailer marketing updates, trends, tips, and more!
🎬 Kroger Launches Onsite Video Carousels
Kroger just rolled out Onsite Video Carousels, combining engaging video with shoppable product carousels directly in search results. After piloting with select brands, this evolution of their Promoted Product Carousels is now available on Kroger.com and the app.
Here's what you need to know:
The strategic opportunity: Unlike standard carousels, this format lets you demonstrate usage occasions, highlight meal solutions, or educate about new products right where shoppers are actively searching.
For better-for-you brands especially, you finally have space to explain why your product costs more, show preparation methods, or highlight clean ingredients before shoppers scroll past.
And while BigCo brands debate high-budget video creative, nimble emerging brands can quickly test and iterate. Start with your highest-converting search terms, keep videos product-focused with clear visibility in thumbnails, and remember - this isn't about beautiful brand films, it's about driving conversion in the moment of search.
🏠 Airbnb Tests Pre-Arrival Grocery Delivery with Instacart
Airbnb is piloting a new feature that lets guests order Instacart groceries up to three weeks before they arrive at their rental, with hosts receiving the delivery and stocking the kitchen ahead of check-in. The test launches in January in Phoenix, Orlando, and Los Angeles.
Why this matters: This creates an entirely new purchase occasion - vacation pre-planning - where brand loyalty and discovery patterns could shift. Brands that optimize for “treat yourself” keywords and create travel-friendly bundles could capture incremental sales. This is going to be a great discovery moment for indulgences as people are likely to be more open to stretching their dollar for a treat.
If you’re a brand on Instacart, consider creating Instacart-exclusive "vacation pantry" bundles or targeting treat/indulgence-related search terms in the launch cities.
🛒 The “Amazonification” of Whole Foods
This week, Amazon announced that it’s fully integrating Whole Foods Market 's 100,000+ frontline into its core business systems by next year through "Project Cremini," with all employees transitioning to Amazon's payroll, performance reviews, and workplace tools.
The bigger picture: Beyond workforce integration, Whole Foods is testing its first automated micro-fulfillment center (MFC) at a PA store, which will stock mainstream CPG brands that never touch Whole Foods' shelves (think: Tide and Oreos 🫠). Shoppers can scan QR codes to order products and pick them up at these MFCs, which will likely launch in more Whole Foods stores in the coming year.
What this means for your brand: This "Amazonification" creates backdoor access for conventional CPG brands previously locked out of Whole Foods - which means that better-for-you brands face new competition as Whole Foods customers gain access to BigCo alternatives through the MFC workaround.
Everyone has strong opinions about this integration, but here's what matters now: check in with your Whole Foods contacts and see how they're doing amidst the change!!
✅ Your Retail Media To-Dos of the Week
Thanks for reading!
— Eleanor
From a consumer perspective, airbnb piloting the instacart feature feels like it could be a game changer. The number of girls trips, bachelorette parties, family vacations where your first stop is a grocery run - being able to skip that and jump right into vacation mode seems like a huge unlock. Love your take on brands being able to optimize on that "vacation mode, treat yourself" mentality with this new consumer touchpoint. Feels like this can create a new kind of digital endcap moment for brands if the pilot goes well and becomes a larger rollout.