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May 14, 2025
Is Trader Joe’s Missing the In-Store Media Bandwagon?
On a recent “Inside Trader Joe’s” podcast, the hosts indicated Trader Joe’s has zero plans to pursue in-store retail media, calling out the benefits of an in-store experience that prioritizes employee engagement.
Tara Miller, the grocer’s VP of marketing, noted that digital screens, whether at checkout, within aisles, or even on roaming robots, shopping carts, and freezer panels, are “ubiquitous now in most grocery stores,” but Trader Joe’s continues to favor a low-tech store experience.
“For us, one of our values is providing a ‘wow’ customer experience, and that requires being connected as human beings to each other, as crew members, as customers,” said Miller. “That doesn’t happen if you have screens constantly between you.”
Cost is another factor behind Trader Joe’s decision to forego digital screens, with the company prioritizing investments in product development, employee support, and maintaining low prices.
Matt Sloan, Trader Joe’s VP of culture and innovation, said, “There are incredible costs, expenses with those systems, and those costs get borne out somewhere, most often at the regular grocery store in the prices on products.”
Miller further said Trader Joe’s has no plans to track customer data to better understand shopper habits or deliver the personalized recommendations to shoppers that in-store media promises. She said, “Basically, we just don’t track our customers… We look at our shelves and we look at what we sell.”
She again highlighted a bigger payback consumers gain in conversing with a store employee to get a recommendation over one generated from an algorithm based on past purchases or preferences. Miller said, “Rather than having a screen say to you, ‘Go buy this chocolate sauce,’ we have a crew member there who might say to you, ‘You might like this Chili Lime Seasoning on that vanilla ice cream with a wedge of mango.’ Unexpected. Not what you’re going to get from a screen in a supermarket.”
In-store media continues to be hyped as ripe for growth, with the vast majority of consumer spending happening in stores and nearly all retail media advertising occurring online.
Grocery TV, which has digital screens in around 6,000 stores across 120 retailers, recently rolled out a closed-loop measurement solution for in-store retail media that the company described as a “turning point for brands looking to fully measure and maximize the impact of in-store media.”
A recent survey of 2,000 U.S. adults commissioned by Vistar Media, an ad platform that specializes in digital out-of-home advertising, found in-store digital ads to be effective at drawing attention, with a third of respondents indicating in-store ads made them “stop and look.”
Only 4% reported that the in-store ads “detracted” from their shopping experience, with most either “positive” or “neutral” toward them. However, survey responses showed in-store ads also aren’t enthralling shoppers so far, with only 27% indicating they “appreciate having something to watch or to listen to, making their time in-store more enjoyable.”
Discussion Questions
Will Trader Joe’s increasingly be at a competitive disadvantage by not offering retail media, whether in-store or online, or tracking its customer data?
Do digital screens generally add, detract, or have a neutral effect on the shopping experience at grocers that use them?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Gene Detroyer
Professor, International Business, Guizhou University of Finance & Economics and University of Sanya, China.
Peter Charness
Retail Strategy - UST Global
John Hennessy
Retail and Brand Technology Tailor
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Trader Joe’s plots its own course. That’s why it doesn’t do ecommerce, self-checkout, or jump on various other bandwagons. What it does do is execute its core proposition, and it does it excellently. That drives performance, loyalty and the bottom line. The other point is that a lot of what Trader Joe’s sells is private label, that doesn’t completely negate retail media opportunities, but it does limit the scale somewhat.
Good point about the extensive private label products at Trader Joe’s which wouldn’t garner any revenues from CPG companies. Trader Joe’s has a perfect recipe for success and the personal touch without excessive technology is a key ingredient. While I think in-store retail media is a great opportunity for many retailers, especially grocers, it is not right for every company. As Ken Morris taught me years ago, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Leaving aside obvious issues – is digital (as) important for a retailer dependent on own-brands?(not because it isn’t important, but rather it’s a conversation killer) – this seems like yet another case of who ya gonna believe?: the people who (likely) know their own business, or a bunch of second guessers? My money is on the aloha shirts.
The technology that retail is in so love with doesn’t make sense for every retailer, and Trader Joe’s proves that. Sometimes that old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” really rings true.
I have always believed “its the product stupid” There’s only a narrow amount of room for media to convince a customer in store to buy a product that isn’t on their list or isn’t their preferred brand. Yes a deal is a deal, and a finely tuned personalized offer is best, but for Retailers like Trader Joes (and Costco) the brand and the store excitement is the best incentive to purchase.
Digital screens in grocery stores are perceived differently by customers. Consumers appreciate the convenience and engaging content provided by digital screens, such as promotional information or recipe ideas, which enhance their shopping experience. Others, however, may find them distracting or believe they are detracting from the traditional, personal touch that many customers value when shopping.
By offering exclusive products, Trader Joe’s enhances the in-store experience. Through local events and partnerships, they might also establish a stronger community presence.
My first company was an in-store media company. We had lots of research that said in-store media was very effective. When there was a Coke ad, they sold more Coke. But, they also sold more Pepsi. The ads were an effective prompt to the shopper.
Let’s also realize that in-store media is a profit center for most retailers. Just like Coke will pay for displays, Coke pays for that on-screen prompt. There is no need the screens prompting any brands at TJs.
Trader Joe has developed a product that enough customers like io make it an extrememly successful retailer. They don’t need the screens to enhance their business,.
Their product signs are brilliant. They tell stories, describe how a product tastes, and look handmade. It’s part of the treasure hunt experience, and it works. Digital screens aren’t needed.
I stopped trying to offer opinions on what Trader Joe’s was missing by not following the herd a long time ago. As I like to quip, they don’t have eCommerce, they don’t have home delivery, and they don’t have screens in stores. What they do have is packed parking lots and legions of loyal customers. Myself included. Let Joe be Joe.
Trader Joes’s is a store shoppers enjoying shopping. That’s about as aspirational as it gets. Adding in store media risks that experience. Trader Joe’s time would be better spent on improving parking.
If you’re wondering if Trader Joe’s needs to change its in-store marketing (or any other strategy), just walk into its stores. They are busy! The checkout lanes are crowded, although fast. They do well because of their customer experience. I love that they track what’s selling versus what individual customers are buying. That’s a great metric that tracks trends. They are a special retailer with a loyal customer base. Their success allows them to do things differently from other retailers clawing for market share. Maybe in-store marketing is in Trader Joe’s future. They are smart enough to realize they need to change as their customers’ buying habits change. For now, they will do what makes them most successful, which is to create the experience that brings customers back.
The treasure hunt experience at Trader Joe’s is simple with wood decor and nicely done signage romancing customers to products and quickly to checkout. The stores are packed, customer loyalty appears strong. Sometimes putting more into the formula isn’t addition, its subtraction.
If anything, Trader Joes customers could benefit from an app to show off the old printed Fearless Flyer, alerting customers to seasonal items, deals.
(I love retail media and yet) Trader Joe’s is so good at tuning out the noise and tuning in to shoppers to deliver a human touch. Having a high percentage of private labels across grocery categories may also make Trader Joe’s less tempting to brand advertisers.
Missing out on the in-store media bandwagon is a deliberate trade-off in TJ’s retail strategy. They don’t want to appeal to everyone, nor do they want to jeopardize the coherence of their strategy for the sake of some media FOMO.