How To Advertise Your Products On Target With Roundel Media Studio

Sven Alwerud
February 13, 2025

Retail Media for CPG: Advertising with Roundel by Target

Shoppers spent nearly $20 billion on Target.com last year. And the best way for brands to get in front of those shoppers is with retail media. Target has been smart in building out its retail media presence for years, and now ranks in the top five largest digital retail media platforms. This year, Target officially introduced its proprietary media-buying platform, Roundel.

Owning Roundel and running retail media in-house gives Target a bigger piece of the retail media pie on their site, and it also offers CPG brands a new opportunity to leverage 1st party data on 165 million Target shoppers to get prime placements on target.com.

But this move isn’t just about monetizing target.com. The Bullseye Marketplace includes 150 additional sites from Comscore publishers, the likes of which include realsimple.com and martha stewart.com. In fact, 35% of Roundel revenue comes from ads placed on non-Target sites.

It’s crucial for CPG brands to understand how to harness the power of Roundel. We’re already seeing clients doubling their ROAS with smart Roundel placements. Here is an introduction to the platform, and how you need to think about it for your ad spend strategy.

Increasing Return on Ad Spend with Roundel Sponsored Product Ads

Sponsored product ads within Roundel Media Studio, popularly referred to as Target Product Ads, serve as a powerful tool for Consumer Packaged Goods brands aiming to enhance their digital presence and drive conversions effectively with Target customers. These ads are strategically crafted to target specific audiences and keywords on Target.com and the Target app, delivering a personalized shopping experience that resonates with consumers. With a self-serve approach, brands have the flexibility to select various ad placements within Roundel Media Studio, optimizing their visibility and engagement to yield impactful results.

When Celerity transitioned one of our clients from Criteo to Roundel Media Studio, this client experienced a remarkable increase in Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) from 2.2 to 4.1, marking a 95% boost. This impressive growth can be attributed to the ad inventory prioritizing media buys on Roundel and the strategic use of automatic and manual bid strategies. By incorporating specific keywords based on customer searches, brands can optimize their ad performance and drive better results.

Advertising on Target: what CPG brands need to consider

Is Your Brand Ready to Advertise on Target.com?

Target.com offers an incredible opportunity to reach engaged shoppers, but not every brand is positioned to maximize its potential. For brands with door distribution in over 200 Target stores, advertising campaigns tend to deliver stronger performance. Brands with full door distribution often see the best results, as their products are more accessible to shoppers nationwide.

Before investing in Target sponsored product ads, take a moment to evaluate whether your distribution footprint aligns with your campaign goals. Target’s audience may seem like a perfect match, but successful advertising requires a clear understanding of your brand’s readiness and its alignment with Target’s shoppers.

Which SKUs should we focus on?

Before you upload every single product, take the time to prioritize your products specifically for Roundel. You might find that some products perform well on the retail media at Kroger, or Amazon, or Walmart, and not as well at Target. The same principle works in reverse too.

How will we know if these ads are successful?

Do you have strong benchmarks for what successful paid placements look like? If not, you need to do your research or find a great partner to help you establish metrics for measuring success. Far too many brands waste their budgets on ads, and then aren’t even sure if they got a reasonable result from it. You can do better! Take the time, do your research, and measure your results honestly. It’s the only way to make sure you’re learning from every placement and becoming more efficient in your advertising spend. That said, retail velocity is waiting for you on Target.com and there’s never been a better time for CPG brands to discover just how powerful advertising with Target can be.

Fitting Roundel into your Retail Media Strategy

Retail Media advertising is a great way for brands to increase sales velocity. If you haven’t explored the world of retail media yet, you’re in the right place, because that’s what we specialize in here at Celerity. A simple way to think about it is that Retail Media puts your product front and center on the digital shelf. And these digital shelves are more often replacing traditional brick and mortar shelves, even at brick and mortar brands like Kroger, Publix, and Target. For more information on how your brand can benefit from winning on the digital shelf, get in touch with our team of experts.

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