Asda Taps Amazon Ads for Retail Media Push in UK First

Asda today announced a partnership with Amazon Ads to power its retail media and advertising technology operations, marking the first such deal between a UK grocer and the e-commerce giant.

The arrangement gives brands using Asda's digital platforms access to Amazon's ad-serving and measurement tools. Asda runs one of the UK's largest loyalty programs, with roughly 7 million active users of its Asda Rewards app. The grocer said the tie-up would let advertisers target those shoppers with more precision than its previous in-house setup allowed.

Retail media has become a fast-growing profit center for large grocers. Tesco runs its own retail media network through a partnership with the ad-tech firm dunnhumby. Sainsbury's operates a similar offering. Asda's move to outsource the technology to Amazon rather than build or buy it signals a bet on speed over ownership.

Amazon already runs a large retail media business through its own marketplace, where brands pay for sponsored product placements and display ads. The Asda deal extends that infrastructure into a third-party grocer's ecosystem for the first time in the UK. Amazon will handle the ad serving, data matching, and campaign reporting. Asda keeps control of its customer data and sets the pricing for ad placements.

For brands, the shift means a single set of ad-buying tools can now reach shoppers on Amazon's marketplace and inside Asda's app and website. That could simplify campaign management for packaged-goods companies that already spend heavily on Amazon's platform. The risk for Asda is that the arrangement deepens Amazon's role in the UK grocery ad market, potentially limiting Asda's ability to switch providers later.

The partnership launches in the second half of 2025. Asda did not disclose financial terms or revenue-sharing details.