Chewy doubled its retail media campaigns and advertiser count year-over-year by shifting from selling ad placements to selling API-native infrastructure that lets brands activate audiences in real time, according to reporting in The Drum. The company's approach mirrors a broader pattern: retail media networks that build or integrate programmatic infrastructure are scaling faster than those offering static display inventory.
Chewy built what it calls a pet-focused retail media network by allowing brand partners to access first-party purchase data through APIs and execute campaigns programmatically. Advertisers don't buy pre-set placements. They pull audience segments, test creative, and adjust bids without waiting for a sales rep. The result is 100% year-over-year growth in both campaigns and advertisers, according to the company's own reporting to The Drum.
The mechanism is structural, not creative. When a brand can call an API to activate a segment of "dog owners who bought grain-free kibble in the last 30 days," that brand runs more campaigns because the cost of testing falls. Kevel, which provides retail media infrastructure to platforms like Chewy, won Retail Media Infrastructure/Platform of the Year at The Drum Awards for its Retail Media Cloud, which delivers real-time activation and transparent measurement. The award recognized infrastructure that removes the manual work from campaign execution.
InMarket and Basis Technologies expanded their strategic partnership to integrate InMarket's location and purchase data into Basis's programmatic platform, per Yahoo Finance. The integration allows advertisers to activate retail audiences across display, video, and connected TV without switching dashboards. The partnership emphasizes real-time measurement: advertisers see foot traffic lift and purchase attribution inside the same interface where they adjust spend.
The steal for a physical-product brand is to demand API access when negotiating with any retail media partner. If the platform cannot provide programmatic segment activation, the brand is buying display ads with a retail data label. Start by asking: "Can I pull a custom audience segment via API and activate it in under an hour?" If the answer is no, negotiate for either API access or a lower CPM to reflect the manual work.
For a solo founder selling through a retailer that offers a media network, request a self-service dashboard with real-time reporting. If the retailer uses Kevel or a similar infrastructure provider, the dashboard exists. If the retailer built in-house, ask for CSV exports of campaign performance by hour and SKU. Use those exports to calculate cost per incremental unit sold, not cost per click. Shift budget to the hours and products with the lowest cost per unit. This requires no new software, just a spreadsheet and daily discipline.
For a brand with a media budget above $10,000 per month, integrate the retail platform's API into your marketing stack. Tools like Segment or Zapier can pipe audience segments from the retail network into your email, SMS, or paid social campaigns. The same customer who bought your competitor's product on the retailer's site can receive your retargeting ad within minutes. This closes the loop retail media platforms sell but rarely operationalize for smaller brands.
The broader pattern is that retail media is becoming retail infrastructure. Platforms that expose their data and activation capabilities through APIs will attract more ad dollars because they reduce the operational cost of testing. Brands that treat retail media as a data source, not just an ad channel, will outspend competitors who buy static placements.
The takeaway
Retail media scales when brands get API access to audience data and real-time activation, not just ad placements.
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