Both CVS and 7-Eleven are expanding their retail media offerings to include in-store audio: CVS has partnered with The Trade Desk and Vibenomics to develop a self-service programmatic audio offering, while 7-Eleven is expanding its partnership with Qsic to bring audio advertising to all 12,000 of its U.S. stores by the end of 2025.
CVS Media Exchange Adds Programmatic Audio
Advertisers on the CVS Media Exchange (CMX) can now reach CVS shoppers with 30-second audio spots across 6,900 stores, with expansion to additional stores planned for the coming months.
Vibenomics will aggregate audio inventory into the programmatic advertising space, with The Trade Desk functioning as the demand-side platform (DSP). Their combined capabilities will allow advertisers to buy and manage omnichannel campaigns with geotargeting, seasonal and day-parting strategies as well as inventory targeting.
The addition of programmatic audio inventory is the latest enhancement to CMX’s self-service media offering, which debuted earlier this year. Other recent initiatives include the addition of more digital screens in high-traffic areas, updated digital signage on endcaps across stores as well as placements such as shelf tags, printed coupons and digital coupons in stores.
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“This presents an incredible opportunity for both our shoppers and advertiser partners, enriching the in-store shopping experience even further with relevant messaging as customers browse the CVS aisles,” said Parbinder Dhariwal, VP and General Manager of CMX in a statement. “With the largest retail pharmacy footprint in the country, this launch is part of our broader commitment to investing in our in-store offerings and delivering more digital product discovery opportunities. We’ve cultivated strong relationships with health, wellness and beauty shoppers over decades, and this marks a significant milestone as we continue to innovate our omnichannel scalability to our partners, providing them with greater autonomy.”
“Across the industry, we are witnessing technology adoption that will drive new insights into shopper engagement and influence,” said Paul Brenner, SVP of Global Retail Media and Partnerships at Vibenomics, a Mood Media Company, in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating with CVS Media Exchange to deliver targeted, programmatic, in-store content that can help shoppers find products they love through awareness, promotion and new discovery.”
7-Eleven to Expand Gulp Radio Chainwide
Currently running in more than 4,000 stores across the U.S., 7-Eleven’s Gulp Radio is part of the c-store’s Gulp Media Network, delivering regular audio messaging to the chain’s in-store customers. Now the company plans to expand the deployment of Gulp Radio programming to 5,000 stores across the U.S. by the end of this year and to more than 12,000 stores by the end of 2025, which will include all 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes stores nationwide. Once fully deployed, Gulp Radio will be one of North America’s largest commercial radio networks, reaching 13 million daily shoppers.
Gulp Radio is offered in partnership with audio retail media platform Qsic, which uses an AI-powered solution to generate localized audio advertisements, backed by first-party data to measure the impact and determine revenue lift.
“Audio is the easiest and most cost-effective way to influence consumer behavior within the convenience store environment,” said Mario Mijares, VP of Marketing, Insights, Loyalty and Monetization Platforms at 7-Eleven in a statement. “Qsic’s audio platform authentically connects with in-store customers to immediately drive measurable results for our brand partners.”
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