Grocery retail is a margin-tight, high-frequency business, sitting on some of the richest first-party data out there: years of loyalty activity, transaction history, category signals, and digital behaviour.
However, even with all that data, many teams struggle to activate it in a way that reliably moves the needle.
The issue isn’t the lack of activation tools. It’s that the data feeding those tools is fragmented, inconsistent, or too slow to power meaningful personalisation, suppression, or real-time activation.
Working with some of Europe’s biggest and most innovative grocery retailers, we’ve seen performance shift quickly when their data becomes genuinely actionable: personalisation sharpens, promotions convert better, churn slows, cart recovery scales, and media waste drops.
“With Zeotap, we increased conversion rates and significantly improved efficiency. More precise targeting now lets us run personalised, demand-led campaigns that drive real results”
– Thomas Töpfer, Head of Paid Media, REWE Group
These are five ways in which the top performing grocery retailers consistently unlock the biggest gains:
1. Shopper Loyalty & Re-Engagement
Grocery loyalty is built on rhythm: the weekly shop, the usual categories, the predictable repeat purchases. When that rhythm changes, it often signals the start of churn.
By spotting early signs of decline in in-store transactions or loyalty-card activity, retailers can trigger timely re-engagement through the channels they already use. This can look like:
- Reminders aligned to a shopper’s usual schedule
- Personalised offers that recognise and reward loyal behaviour
- Messages and offers highlighting new or relevant items in categories they love
These nudges help protect loyalty before it erodes, keeping valuable shoppers engaged and coming back.
2. Real-Time Coupon & Promotion Activation
Promotions are everywhere in grocery retail, but they’re only as effective as their timing.
When retailers tap into buying patterns, such as what shoppers purchase most often, which categories they rely on, and how their weekly shopping rhythm shifts, they can send promotions that encourage the next visit.
Leveraging Zeotap’s real-time journeys, we see teams reach shoppers the moment their intent is strongest, with promotions tailored to their habits and preferences. These can include:
- Personalised coupons tied to recent in-store purchases
- Weekly promotions tailored to a shopper’s usual buying rhythm
- App offers informed by loyalty card activity
- Incentives designed to drive return visits
These tailored activations boost coupon redemption and motivate shoppers to return more often.
3. Personalised Offers & Content
Grocery shoppers leave a steady stream of signals: what they browse, what they’ve bought recently, what they’re running low on, and which products they tend to buy together.
With Zeotap, we’ve seen marketers turn loyalty data, in-store activity, and digital behaviour into rich shopper profiles that power personalised offers and timely prompts. For example, teams deliver:
- Personalised newsletters with tailored content and promotions
- Timely restock reminders
- Complementary product suggestions
- Relevant category discounts
This leads to greater relevance and bigger baskets, without relying on blanket discounting.
4. Basket Abandonment & Cart Recovery
Online baskets, whether created for home delivery, click-and-collect, or simply left in the app during a shop, carry some of the strongest buying intent in grocery retail. Yet many of these baskets are never completed, often because shoppers gets distracted or breaks off mid-journey.
When identifying unfinished baskets, marketers can automatically re-engage shoppers through the channels they already use. It’s one of the most powerful and reliable ways to recover revenue that would otherwise be lost. These activations can include:
- Tailored recovery emails referencing the items left behind
- Personalised incentives based on basket value or product type
- Dynamic content that adapts to the shopper’s status or preferences
- Reminders delivered through app or newsletter channels
Carrefour, for example, launched its first automated cart-recovery flow within weeks of implementation:
“Cart abandonment recovery allows us to increase customer loyalty and improve the frequency and AOV of our eCommerce Food customers. Thanks to Zeotap, we’ve been able to automate this journey with low effort and high customer value.”
– Alicia Alonso Soldevilla, Digital Marketing & eCommerce Manager, Carrefour
5. Shopper Audience Activation on Paid Media
Paid media can be a powerful lever in grocery retail, or a sure and fast way to burn budget.
If teams aren’t careful, it’s easy for spend to leak through ineffective reach. When shoppers aren’t recognised and matched properly across activation channels, targeting loses accuracy and acquisition quickly turns into money down the drain.
Leveraging Audience Boost, we’ve seen teams overcome one of their biggest media bottlenecks: low match rates, and dramatically improve both targeting accuracy and suppression consistency across key media channels. When customer data is matched more accurately across ad platforms, marketers can:
- Target high-value lookalike audiences
- Suppress audiences who are unlikely to benefit from the campaign
- Distribute spend more efficiently
- Run higher-performing campaigns across key media channels
This leads to leaner, more effective media investment without increasing budgets.
REWE, for example, achieved this at scale, saving €1M in media budget and reducing Cost per Visit by 24%.
“By using our first-party data more strategically, Zeotap helped us rethink performance marketing and focus on audiences that drive real value, not reach for reach’s sake”
– Thomas Töpfer, Head of Paid Media, REWE GROUP
Closing Thoughts
Grocery retailers already sit on some of the richest first-party data. The real challenge has been turning that data into something activation teams can actually use.
With Zeotap, we’ve seen teams transform loyalty signals, in-store activity, and digital behaviour into drivers of stronger engagement and higher performance across every channel.
And the results speak for themselves: sharper personalisation, smarter promotions, stronger loyalty, more efficient media spend, and meaningful revenue recovery.
