Changing the Map for Growth: Reflections from Ascendant’s Inaugural Retail Media Upfronts

Earlier this month, I had the honor of joining some of our industry’s leading voices on stage at Ascendant’s inaugural retail and commerce media upfronts in New York City. It was an exciting moment, not just for retail media, but for the brands, agencies, and partners looking for new growth opportunities in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

As I shared during my presentation, the retail media industry is moving quickly. Consumer expectations are changing. Media investments are under more scrutiny than ever. And brands are being challenged to find incremental growth in an increasingly crowded landscape.

My message was simple: if brands and agencies want different outcomes, they should take a closer look at their maps.

For too long, many media plans have relied on the same audiences, the same channels, and the same assumptions. At Dollar General, we believe there is significant opportunity beyond those traditional boundaries, and DG Media Network is uniquely positioned to help brands unlock it.

The DG Story: A Different Map for Growth

The DG story starts with scale.

With more than 21,000 stores across the country and a presence in , 75% of Americans live within five miles of a Dollar General store. Our footprint reaches rural, suburban and urban communities, including thousands of places that many retailers and media platforms simply cannot reach.

But scale is only part of the story.

Our business continues to grow, with more than 100 million addressable customers and more than 5k new stores added since 2020. More importantly, we’re helping brands connect with audiences that are often overlooked through traditional media buys. In many cases, DG shoppers represent incremental reach that brands cannot easily find elsewhere. And that’s not just our POV, that comes straight from buyers accessing our audiences via The Trade Desk, Yahoo and now Google’s DV360 & YouTube.

What makes these relationships so powerful is frequency. DG shoppers make billions of trips every year, averaging 27 visits annually. Through our stores, digital channels, the myDG app, our delivery ecosystem and in-store media experiences, brands have repeated opportunities to engage customers throughout their purchasing journey.

The result is a retail media platform built on three powerful advantages:

• National Scale
• Unique Reach
• High-Frequency Shopper Engagement

Creating More Moments That Matter

Another key theme of our presentation was how brands can connect with customers across the moments that influence decisions and drive growth.

From discovery and impulse purchases to planned shopping occasions and everyday replenishment trips, we continue to expand opportunities for advertisers to engage shoppers wherever they are. We announced new capabilities with onsite video, our growing partnership with DoorDash with a new product called SMART Search that covers DG shoppers searching on DG.com and within the DG Storefront on DoorDash, integrated seasonal marketing programs like our iHeartMedia Bobby Bones partnership, and our expanding in-store media offerings, including the DG In-Store Radio Network powered by QSIC in approximately 12,000 stores. We are creating more ways for brands to connect with customers at scale.

These aren’t just media touchpoints. They’re meaningful moments backed by first-party insights, closed-loop measurement and real customer relationships.

Looking Ahead

What excites me most about this moment is that we’re still just getting started.

The retail media landscape will continue to evolve, but one thing remains constant: brands need growth. At DG Media Network, we’re committed to helping our partners find it through the combination of unmatched proximity, unique audiences and frequent customer engagement that only Dollar General can provide.

Thank you to the team at Ascendant’s Showcase for bringing together so many leaders across our industry and thank you to the brands and agency partners who continue to innovate alongside us.

Together, we’re changing the map and creating new opportunities to drive growth at Dollar General.