What you need to know:

• Woolworths’ retail media arm, Cartology, has acquired Shopper Media Group for $150m.
• Both companies will continue with “business as usual” for the moment, as the deal is subject to ACCC approval.
• Cartology will now actively compete in the Out of Home sector against the likes of oOh Media and Val Morgan Outdoor, more than doubling its digital screen network and adding 2,000 screens that are outside its own stores.
• Seven boss James Warburton is a non-executive director and investor at Shopper Media - he took a stake after his tenure as CEO at APN Outdoor finished when JC Decaux acquired the business in 2018. 
• Shopper was founded in 2015 and has quickly grown since then to a team of 50 people. In early 2022, the co-founder and then-CEO of the business, Ben Walker, passed away suddenly.

Woolworths’ retailer media business, Cartology, will more actively compete with media owners for non-FMCG and supplier advertising dollars after acquiring Shopper Media Group, its 50 employees and 2,000-strong digital screen network, for $150 million in cash.

The deal, which is subject to approval by the ACCC, sets Cartology up as a competitor to out-of-home companies like oOh! and Val Morgan, both of which have a network of shopping centre screens.

The retailer media company is steadily building its off-premise media network – announcing it could buy YouTube ads for clients last year.

When asked whether Cartology would be looking to “close the loop” on the customer purchasing and attribution journey with Shopper’s assets, and how that would work, Cartology boss Mike Tyquin said: “Acquiring Shopper will allow Cartology to offer a broader range of integrated solutions to brands that further unlock the opportunities that retail media can deliver.”

In a briefing with media, Tyquin said the purchase of Shopper added “complementary” assets to Cartology, which has 1,500 digital screens in its stores. Shopper has 2,000 across more than 400 shopping centres.

“We like the idea of being able to harness and combine both businesses in this new proposition that we'll be able to create,” Tyquin said.

“The next piece, though, is absolutely on our roadmap, which is to work with what we call non-endemic suppliers. They are clients that are not supermarket or BIG W suppliers… it also allows us to extend our existing off network proposition as well as scale our proposition into new categories beyond FMCG and everyday needs.”

Shopper was founded in 2015 and has quickly grown since then to a team of 50 people. In early 2022, the co-founder and then-CEO of the business, Ben Walker, passed away suddenly. Co-founder Ed Couche stepped into the role as chief.

"We believe [this acquisition] will benefit our agencies, advertisers and property partners and the industry overall," Couche said.

"Integrating with the Cartology offering will deliver enhanced data and advertising capabilities for Shopper’s existing partners." Both companies will remain separate businesses until the deal is completed. 

Retail media is an $850 million market already, according to the Entertainment & Media Outlook 2022 prepared by PwC. Cartology likely makes up almost half of that.

In an ASX statement yesterday, Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci said the retail media sector is “developing rapidly and is an important part of the evolution of Woolworths Group”.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to bring together the complementary capabilities of our retail media business, Cartology, with Shopper’s expertise in out of home media,” he said.

Woolworths' share price dropped slightly yesterday, about half a percentage point to $37.29. 

The ACCC will review the proposed acquisition, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.