CPG brands are constantly seeking new ways to bridge the gap between digital discovery and real-world purchase decisions. Historically, influencing a shopper inside a brick-and-mortar store relied on paper coupons or cardboard endcaps, but the emergence of in-store retail media has transformed physical retail. Today, specialized digital out-of-home (DOOH) networks on smart shopping carts and checkout screens allow brands to deliver high-impact, contextual messages at the exact moment of choice.
1. Grocery TV
Grocery TV operates a massive, programmatic-first in-store digital advertising network that spans over 6,500 supermarket locations, effectively reaching one in four Americans during their weekly shopping routines. By placing high-definition displays at high-dwell touchpoints like checkout lanes, store entrances, and pharmacy lines, the network captures focused attention when shoppers are in a highly receptive, buying state of mind. According to a comprehensive meta-analysis of CPG brands utilizing the network, advertisers achieve an average 14% incremental sales lift, showing a clear, direct correlation between point-of-sale visibility and basket growth. The network is highly accessible to advertisers, offering the flexibility of programmatic buying through major demand-side platforms (DSPs) alongside managed-service options, and supports context-aware triggers like weather or local event data to alter ad creatives on the fly.
2. Instacart Caper Carts
Instacart Caper Carts represent a major leap forward in connected store technology, utilizing artificial intelligence, weight sensors, and computer vision to automatically detect items as they are placed inside the shopping basket. Through the Instacart advertising ecosystem, CPG brands can seamlessly extend their existing online shoppable display campaigns directly onto the cart’s interactive touchscreens. Because these ads are fully aisle- and inventory-aware, a brand’s creative is only shown when the shopper enters a relevant aisle and only if the specified product is currently in stock on the store’s shelves. This high-context placement drives exceptional engagement, with pilot studies showing over a 3% ad unit engagement rate and a 2% add-to-cart rate, making it an incredibly effective tool for boosting impulse purchases.
3. Shopic
Shopic takes a modular approach to smart cart digitization with its “Shop-E” clip-on device, an AI-powered unit that instantly converts any standard, existing supermarket trolley into a digital retail media screen. The system uses advanced computer vision to register items being added or removed from the cart, while the interactive display provides real-time pricing, store navigation, and checkout-free payment processing. For advertisers, Shopic functions as a hyper-targeted retail media network that serves personalized promotions on-screen based on the customer’s precise location in the aisles and current basket content. The company claims this highly immediate, contextual messaging can generate conversion rates up to ten times higher than traditional online promotions, making it highly attractive for grocers like Waitrose and Intermarché looking to monetize their in-store foot traffic.
4. Blindspot
Blindspot serves as a flexible, programmatic gateway for CPG brands looking to scale their physical retail presence without getting bogged down by the fragmentation of individual store networks. By aggregating a global network of over 2.5 million digital screens across 50 countries, the Blindspot self-serve platform allows advertisers to deploy context-aware, point-of-sale, and retail-proximity campaigns in under 15 minutes. Designed with agility in mind, the platform bypasses restrictive long-term contracts and allows brands to purchase DOOH inventory by the hour rather than requiring continuous 24/7 schedules, utilizing real-time triggers like weather or local traffic to swap creatives dynamically. While this self-serve ease, hourly buying flexibility, and down-funnel attribution tracking—such as physical foot traffic, web lift, and actual sales—make it an ideal fit for growing mid-market brands, it may not be the optimal choice for very large enterprises requiring highly customized, bespoke DSP integrations.
5. A2Z Cust2Mate
A2Z Cust2Mate has rapidly expanded its footprint in the brick-and-mortar space with its advanced smart cart platform, which features a dedicated Retail Media Division focused on physical-store monetization. This specialized division allows CPG brands to advertise directly on Cust2Mate smart carts, engaging customers at the critical point of decision with customized, real-time offers and localized product recommendations on the handle-mounted screen. The platform leverages rich first-party in-store shopping data to target ads based on real-time basket contents, ensuring that a brand’s message is highly complementary to what the customer is already buying. Supported by an experienced team of retail media executives, Cust2Mate’s interactive displays are currently rolling out across international supermarket chains, offering a closed-loop measurement framework that directly tracks how on-screen impressions translate into final purchases.
As physical supermarkets continue to embrace digital transformation, the separation between digital retail media and real-world shopping is rapidly disappearing. For CPG brands, deploying campaigns across smart carts and checkout screens offers an unprecedented opportunity to influence purchasing decisions right at the point of sale. By utilizing these specialized DOOH networks, advertisers can deliver contextually relevant messages that not only increase brand awareness but also drive immediate, measurable sales lift.