Kroger launched an AI shopping assistant across most of its grocery banners last week, excluding Harris Teeter. Developed in partnership with Cooklist, the assistant helps shoppers plan meals, find recipes, and build shopping carts around budgets or dietary needs. Notably, product listing advertisements were included at launch, appearing alongside organic results and labeled as sponsored content when the assistant builds shopping lists.
This approach differs markedly from competitors' strategies. Walmart, for example, announced advertising features for its Sparky shopping assistant in January, a full year after the tool's launch and after testing ads in the fall. For advertisers, no additional setup is required; brands running product listing campaigns with Kroger Precision Marketing may automatically appear in the assistant recommendations. This signals a maturation in retail media strategy: advertising is now baked into AI tools from inception rather than retrofitted later.
Kroger Precision Marketing's profit grew more than 20% year over year in the first quarter, while e-commerce sales were up 19%. CEO Greg Foran emphasized that 95% of Kroger's transactions are tied to a loyalty card, enabling measurement of actual purchase behavior rather than intent—a competitive advantage for brands and advertisers.