How UK grocery retailers sell sponsored placements on Tesco and Boots

What to take away

• UK grocery retail media sponsored placements at Tesco are sold through the Tesco Media and Insight Platform, which runs on dunnhumby data and Clubcard transactions.
• Tesco sells on-site sponsored products on tesco.com search and category pages, and off-site display and connected TV using dunnhumby audience segments.
• Boots sells through Boots Media Group, its retail media network, on boots.com and in the Boots app, using Boots Advantage Card data.
• Buying routes are self-serve inside Tesco's platform, managed service through dunnhumby Media and Boots Media Group, or a UK agency trading desk.
• IAB UK sets the reporting standards, including return on ad spend and incremental sales, plus creative principles for native formats.
• Section 2 of the CAP Code, enforced by the ASA, requires sponsored placements to be obviously identifiable, and the CMA's advertising work now sits under the Digital Markets Unit.

How Tesco's retail media business structures sponsored placements

Tesco sells sponsored placements through the Tesco Media and Insight Platform, the retail media business it built with dunnhumby. The platform runs on Clubcard data, so exposure to a sponsored unit can be tied to transactions in Tesco's UK stores and on tesco.com. On-site placements are sold by the platform, and off-site campaigns are sold by dunnhumby Media.

On-site inventory covers sponsored product units in tesco.com search results, category pages and product listings. It also covers placements in the Tesco Grocery & Clubcard app, Tesco's email, and Clubcard loyalty communications. Tesco sets slot density, so a sponsored unit appears above or between organic results rather than beside them.

Off-site inventory uses dunnhumby audience segments away from tesco.com: display, online video and connected TV, traded programmatically through a demand-side platform such as DV360 or The Trade Desk. Those buys carry the same campaign names as the on-site placements, so the two can be reported together. For how that channel works, see off-site retail media.

Tesco has extended self-serve booking inside the platform for part of its on-site inventory, while premium and off-site buys stay with its sales teams. A UK brand can book a sponsored product slot directly, or hand the brief to an agency that trades with dunnhumby Media.

Tesco reports on-site campaigns against Clubcard-linked sales, so the sales figure is observed rather than modelled. Off-site campaigns are matched to the same segments through a clean room, which introduces assumptions. Ask which method was used before you put both numbers in one chart.

Clubcard gives Tesco a panel that spans in-store and online purchases across the UK, which is why the platform can report sales rather than a proxy for them. Other UK grocers rely on similar loyalty panels, and the size of that panel decides how precisely a sponsored placement can be measured.

Boots and the Advantage Smollan-style route to on-site inventory

Boots sells sponsored placements through Boots Media Group, the retail media network it set up in 2022 inside Boots UK, part of Walgreens Boots Alliance. The network runs on Boots Advantage Card data, and that loyalty link is what lets it tie a sponsored placement to a transaction.

The phrase Advantage Smollan-style route describes the sales model rather than the network's name. Smollan is a retail activation business, and the model it stands for is a third party representing a retailer's inventory, agreeing rate cards and handling campaign setup. At Boots, the contracting party for digital sponsored placements is Boots Media Group and its agency partners.

On-site inventory at Boots covers sponsored product units on boots.com search results and category pages. It also covers placements in the Boots app, Boots email and Advantage Card communications. In-store digital screens are retail media as well, but they are booked separately from online placements.

The buying route is managed. Brands brief the Boots Media Group sales team or work through an agency, and the network approves creative, allocates slots and reports. There is no open self-serve desk for Boots inventory, so lead times run to weeks rather than days.

Most agencies buy Boots inventory through the same trading teams they use for Tesco. That keeps one insertion order for both retailers but hides how the budget splits between them. Ask for a line per surface and per retailer before the campaign starts.

On-site sponsored product slots versus off-site display and CTV

On-site sponsored product slots run on the retailer's own domain: tesco.com search and category pages for Tesco, boots.com search and category pages for Boots, plus the Tesco Grocery & Clubcard app and the Boots app. They are bought by the click or by impressions, priced in pounds, and measured against Clubcard and Advantage Card transactions.

Off-site display and CTV runs on other publishers using the same retailer audience segments. Tesco's off-site buys use dunnhumby segments, and Boots' use Advantage Card segments. Both are traded programmatically in a demand-side platform, then matched back to retail sales through a clean room or a measurement partner.

The two serve different jobs. On-site slots capture demand at the moment of search, when a UK shopper is already browsing a retailer's aisle. Off-site display and CTV build reach before the shopper arrives. A campaign using both needs one measurement framework, or the numbers will not reconcile.

Pricing models differ by surface. Sponsored products are usually sold on a cost-per-click basis with category rates agreed in pounds. Off-site display and CTV are sold on a cost-per-thousand-impressions basis. Retailers also offer annual packages that commit spend across search, app and off-site in a single deal.

Dimension	On-site sponsored products	Off-site display and CTV
Where it runs	tesco.com and boots.com search, category and app	Open web, apps and connected TV
Buying method	Self-serve or managed service	Programmatic, often via DSP
Measurement	Retailer sales data, observed	Modelled or clean-room matched
Typical pricing	CPC or CPM	CPM
Labelling	Sponsored label on the slot	AdChoices icon and named advertiser

Off-site buying depends on programmatic plumbing, and the IAB UK programmatic guide sets out the mechanics that UK grocery retail media buyers use when they trade this inventory.

Buying routes: self-serve, managed service and agency trading desks

In the UK the route depends on the retailer. Tesco offers self-serve booking inside the Tesco Media and Insight Platform for some on-site inventory, and managed service through dunnhumby Media for premium and off-site buys. Boots sells only through Boots Media Group and its agency partners. Off-site inventory at both is normally bought through a UK agency trading desk.

1. Self-serve. You log into Tesco's platform, set a budget, pick categories or keywords and upload creative. It suits smaller brands and always-on sponsored product campaigns, and it can go live within days.
2. Managed service. You brief dunnhumby Media or Boots Media Group. They build the campaign, agree the rate and report on it. It suits premium placements, app takeovers and bundles across several surfaces, with lead times of several weeks.
3. Agency trading desk. Your agency buys off-site inventory programmatically, and often the on-site slots too, under one insertion order. It suits advertisers running the same campaign across several UK retailers.

Boots' buying routes sit in the managed service and agency categories, which carry longer lead times than Tesco's self-serve entry point. Tesco's self-serve route launches faster but gives less control over slot position. The route you choose decides how quickly you can optimise a live campaign.

Contracts follow the route as well. Self-serve bookings are usually monthly or quarterly with no minimum commitment. Managed service and agency deals often run for a year with an upfront spend commitment and a rate card reviewed each quarter. Ask what happens to unused budget before you sign.

Agency trading desks often combine on-site and off-site buys in one insertion order. That simplifies billing but obscures which placement drove which result. For a comparison of how the main networks differ, see UK retail media network.

What IAB UK reporting requires from grocery sponsored placements

IAB UK is the trade body behind the reporting and creative standards that UK retail media networks cite. Its standards and guidelines library covers measurement, creative formats and data transparency, and the IAB UK's account of its work sets out the remit that grocery retail media reporting draws on.

Buyers should expect definitions for return on ad spend, incremental sales and sales lift, alongside impression, click and viewability counts. IAB UK guidance is that a report states which metric the campaign was sold on: cost per click, cost per thousand impressions, or a share of sales.

Because IAB UK's guidelines are written with input from retailers, agencies and ad tech suppliers, its definitions turn up in contracts from several UK retailers. That is why a sponsored placement brief usually names the metric, the attribution window and the reporting period before the first impression runs.

Placement naming matters as much as the metric. A sponsored unit on tesco.com search and one on boots.com category pages should carry consistent names in every report, so an agency can line them up across platforms. Standard names stop the same slot appearing twice under different labels.

Reports should also say where the sales figure comes from. If Tesco attributes a sale through Clubcard, or Boots through the Advantage Card, the report should say so. If the figure comes from a matched or modelled panel, the report should say that instead. Do not let the two be blended.

IAB UK also publishes creative principles for native distribution. The native distribution creative principles apply to sponsored placements because they sit inside search results and category listings. The principles cover labelling, layout and the separation between paid and organic content.

Reporting cadence is worth checking too. UK networks commonly report weekly during a campaign and monthly afterwards, with a final reconciliation once returns and cancellations are known. Ask when the final number is locked and what can still change.

Labelling sponsored placements under the CAP Code and ASA rules

Section 2 of the CAP Code covers the recognition of marketing communications, and its rule on identifiability (2.1) and its rule on advertisement features (2.4) are the ones that apply to retail media. The CAP and ASA advertising codes set out the full text, and the ASA enforces them across UK advertising.

For a sponsored product unit on tesco.com or boots.com, that means a label a shopper reads before clicking. A small grey word below a product image is unlikely to satisfy the rule. The ASA has upheld complaints about ads that looked like editorial or organic listings.

Off-site placements carry a different duty. Interest-based ads shown to UK users usually carry the AdChoices icon under the EDAA UK scheme, and a sponsored display or CTV ad also needs a named advertiser. One campaign can face different labelling duties on different surfaces.

Before you book, check these points with the retailer's sales team:

• The label text used on the placement
• Where the label sits relative to the creative
• The display size of the label on mobile and desktop
• Whether the label survives if creative is swapped mid-campaign
• Who signs off the final creative against the CAP Code
• Whether the off-site ad carries the AdChoices icon

For a practical set of checks, see sponsored placement. The ASA publishes its rulings, and it can name advertisers, remove paid search ads and refer persistent cases to Trading Standards.

Where CMA scrutiny of online advertising touches grocery retail media

The Competition and Markets Authority published its online advertising market study in 2020. It found that Google and Facebook held substantial market power, that advertisers and publishers could not easily judge whether they were getting value, and that consumers had limited control over data used for advertising.

The remedies were structural rather than fines. The CMA recommended a Digital Markets Unit inside the CMA to enforce a code of conduct for platforms with strategic market status, with powers over data access, interoperability and self-preferencing. It also wanted the ability to intervene where a platform's conduct harmed competition.

The government set up the Digital Markets Unit in 2021, and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 put it on a statutory footing. The CMA can now designate firms with strategic market status, impose conduct requirements, order pro-competition interventions, and fine up to 10 per cent of global turnover for breaches.

Grocery retail media sits near this work because loyalty data is the asset being sold. If the CMA applies conduct requirements on data access and fair terms in advertising, retailers such as Tesco and Boots may have to justify how they grant access to Clubcard and Advantage Card audiences, and how that access is priced.

The CMA's oversight of Google's Privacy Sandbox also matters to grocery buyers, because changes to third-party cookies affect the targeting available for off-site inventory. Retail media's appeal is partly that it leans on retailer first-party data rather than third-party cookies.

For advertisers, the practical response is records. Keep the brief, the rate card, the placement report and the labelling sign-off for each campaign. If a plan is questioned, or a performance claim is challenged, that file is what you have.

Common questions

Do Tesco and Boots sell sponsored placements in the same way? No. Tesco offers self-serve booking for some on-site inventory and managed service through dunnhumby Media for premium and off-site buys. Boots sells only through Boots Media Group and its agency partners.

What is the difference between on-site and off-site retail media? On-site placements run on tesco.com, boots.com and the retailers' apps, and are measured against Clubcard and Advantage Card transactions. Off-site placements run on other publishers, matched back to retailer sales through a clean room.

Which body sets the reporting standards for UK retail media? IAB UK publishes the reporting and creative standards that retail media networks cite, including definitions for return on ad spend, incremental sales and sales lift.

What labelling does the CAP Code require for a sponsored placement? Section 2 requires marketing communications to be obviously identifiable, and rule 2.4 covers advertisement features. A sponsored placement needs a label a UK shopper reads before they click.

How does the CMA affect grocery retail media buying? The CMA's 2020 market study led to the Digital Markets Unit and the DMCC Act 2024. The CMA can impose conduct requirements on designated firms, which reaches how retailer audiences are accessed and priced.

Can I buy Tesco and Boots inventory through one agency desk? Yes. Agency trading desks often combine on-site and off-site buys across retailers in a single insertion order. Ask for a breakdown by surface and retailer so you can see which placement drove which result.