CINCINNATI, May 30, 2018 - The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), through Kroger Precision Marketing powered by 84.51°, will launch Boosted Products in Search on June 4. The self-service marketing platform will allow brands to seamlessly reach digitally-active shoppers with hyper-relevant products within search results across Kroger digital properties, and view performance in real-time.

Brands will have the ability to promote their online assortment with Product Listing Ads (PLAs) through the Kroger Precision Marketing platform by balancing cost-per-click bid pricing, customer relevancy, and in-flight performance optimization. Native product integration will take SKUs appearing within search results, or within relevant categories, and feature them in high visibility slots for the customer.

"As part of Restock Kroger, we are committed to partnering for customer value and redefining the grocery customer experience. Kroger Precision Marketing is an alternative revenue stream for Kroger and provides brands the platform to offer a more personalized online experience to Kroger customers through digital innovation," said Yael Cosset, Kroger's chief digital officer.

Driven by 84.51° personalization science, this new capability will revolutionize the way brands interact with Kroger customers online and is projected to increase sales and basket size, enable product discovery for customers, and tap into unique, previously unavailable marketing channels. Sciences will deliver a rewarding customer experience through household-level personalization integration and a machine learning-driven quality score which occurs in real-time, accounting for store-level inventory, promotions, shifting consumer preferences, and seasonality. This will power the search results algorithm and influence the priority ranking of boosted products for customers.

“Our private marketplace model will provide more transparency, more control, and better performance for our Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) partners. Kroger customers will see more relevant ads and offers being served to them, and CPG companies will benefit from a more connected and streamlined approach to reaching their consumers,” said Cara Pratt, 84.51°’s vice president of customer communications.

This newest solution to the Kroger Precision Marketing portfolio is one part of the larger Restock Kroger initiative, which launched in 2017. Through Restock Kroger, the company has significantly increased its technology spending in 2018 in multiple areas, including digital shopping, merchandising, in-store technologies, health and wellness, and payments.