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Retail Media

Instacart Ads

Freemium

Instacart Ads is Instacart's retail media platform for brands that want to influence grocery and convenience purchases near the point of sale. Its formats include sponsored products, display placements, promotions, and off-platform campaigns informed by shopping behavior across participating retailers, with reporting focused on product discovery and sales. It is especially useful for consumer packaged goods, food, beverage, household, and personal care marketers selling through the Instacart marketplace.

Launchgrocery advertisingsponsored productscommerce mediacpg marketing

What it does

Instacart Ads is the retail media arm of the Instacart grocery and convenience marketplace, letting brands advertise to shoppers at the moment they are filling a cart. The core format is sponsored products, which surface items in search results and category pages so they appear when a shopper is actively buying, alongside display placements, coupons and promotions, and off-platform campaigns powered by Instacart purchase data. Reporting centers on product discovery, attributed sales, and return on ad spend across participating retailers. Because intent is high and the path from ad to add-to-cart is short, Instacart Ads is especially valuable for consumer packaged goods marketers in food, beverage, household, and personal care categories who want measurable basket-level impact.

Where it fits

Instacart Ads sits at the launch and optimization stages of retail media, converting in-store-style demand into measurable online grocery sales.

Core features

  • Sponsored product placements in search and category results
  • Display, coupon, and promotion formats across the marketplace
  • Off-platform campaigns informed by first-party purchase data
  • Audience targeting built from grocery and convenience shopping behavior
  • Sales and ROAS reporting attributed at the product level

Best for

  • CPG brands selling groceries and household goods on Instacart
  • Food and beverage marketers chasing high-intent shoppers
  • Teams wanting basket-level sales attribution near point of purchase

Beginner notes

  1. Make sure your product catalog and inventory are accurate, since out-of-stock items waste sponsored-product spend.
  2. Bid on your own brand terms first to defend share before expanding into competitive and generic category keywords.
  3. Watch new-to-brand and basket metrics, not just ROAS, to understand whether ads are driving incremental shoppers.
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Comparisons & guides featuring this tool

Concepts behind this tool

Retail Media Network

A retail media network is a retailer's owned advertising platform where brands pay to reach shoppers at the point of purchase.

Commerce Media

Commerce media is advertising that uses shopping intent and purchase data to target buyers throughout their path to purchase, spanning retailer networks, financial data, and marketplace inventory.

More tools: Retail Media

Freemium

Amazon Ads

Amazon Ads is Amazon's advertising platform for reaching shoppers and audiences across its store, streaming properties, and the wider web. Its products include self-service sponsored ads, Brand Stores, display and video formats, measurement tools, and Amazon DSP, with reporting tied closely to shopping activity. It is most useful for marketplace sellers, retail brands, and agencies that need commerce-oriented campaigns from product discovery through purchase.

Retail Media
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Walmart Connect

Walmart Connect is Walmart's retail media platform for reaching shoppers across its digital properties and broader advertising ecosystem. Advertisers can run sponsored search, display, video, connected television, and offsite campaigns using Walmart purchase signals, then measure outcomes such as sales, new buyers, and return on ad spend. It is most relevant to brands and marketplace sellers that distribute through Walmart and need media activity tied closely to commerce results.

Retail Media
Freemium

Target Roundel

Roundel is Target's retail media business, connecting advertisers with Target shoppers through onsite, offsite, social, search, video, and connected television placements. Campaign planning and measurement use Target's commerce relationships and purchase signals to build audiences, personalize messages, and evaluate sales impact across channels. It fits established consumer brands and agency teams that sell through Target and want coordinated media programs around launches, seasonal moments, category growth, or household acquisition.

Retail Media