Migros, Switzerland's largest cooperative retailer, on February 26, 2026 announced a partnership with Criteo to launch data-driven advertising products on its website and mobile application - positioning the grocery chain as what it describes as the first Swiss online grocery store to offer this type of monetization.
The deal covers two ad formats: Sponsored Product Ads, which are live from day one, and Onsite Display Ads, which Migros says are coming soon. Both formats will run across migros.ch and the Migros app, targeting shoppers during active purchasing sessions. According to the press release issued jointly from Munich and Zurich, Criteo will both supply the underlying technology and market the advertising opportunities with Migros directly.
Migros Retail Media sits within the Marketing & Communications Division of Migros Supermarkt AG, a subsidiary of the Migros Cooperative Association (MGB) that has operated as a centrally managed, independent company since January 1, 2024. The retail media unit serves as the central point of contact for online and offline ad placements across what the company calls the "Migros universe."
The offering targets two distinct buyer groups. Endemic advertisers - brand suppliers that sell products through Migros - can use sponsored formats to appear alongside relevant search results and product pages. Non-endemic advertisers, companies that do not sell directly through Migros, can also access the platform to reach shoppers using Migros' first-party audience data. This distinction between endemic and non-endemic demand is a structural feature common to mature retail media networks.
According to Séverine Hubatschek, Head of Retail Media at Migros Supermarkt AG, the partnership is designed to deliver measurability and transparency: "These solutions offer advertising customers personalized and relevant advertising that is measurable, transparent, and effective, delivering real added value for brands."
The ad products themselves operate within a closed-loop measurement framework, meaning campaign performance can be tied to actual purchases made on the platform. This is the core technical distinction between retail media and traditional digital display: the advertiser can verify that an impression or click converted into a transaction, using the retailer's own transaction data. Corinna Hohenleitner, Managing Director Retail Media DACH at Criteo, described this attribute directly: "brands can not only target users who are ready to buy during their purchasing process, but thanks to precise closed-loop measurement, they can also accurately measure the actual impact of their campaigns."
Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO) describes itself as the global platform connecting the commerce ecosystem. Its AI-powered advertising platform has access to more than $1 trillion in annual commerce sales, according to the company. It operates retail media programs for approximately 225 retailers globally, and at the time of the Migros announcement, the company served around 4,100 brands across its global network.
The Swiss deal adds to a run of DACH-region partnerships. Criteo's Q3 2025 results, reported by PPC Land in October 2025, listed Migros and Interdiscount among newly signed retailers in that quarter alongside DoorDash, Sephora, The Fragrance Shop, Zepto, and Massmart. The formal public announcement of the Migros partnership's scope and product details, however, came with this February 26, 2026 press release.
Hohenleitner, whose title specifically covers DACH - Germany, Austria and Switzerland - cited a decade of sector experience as a differentiator: "With ten years of experience in retail media, we can offer our customers exactly what they need to achieve their goals."
For Migros, the partnership creates, according to the press release, "a foundation based on established standards that are already widely used internationally" - a framing that reflects a deliberate decision to avoid building proprietary ad infrastructure from scratch and instead adopt tooling already proven in other markets.
The cooperative context matters for understanding the scale of what is being monetized. According to Wikipedia's current entry on Migros, the group reported revenue of 31.9 billion CHF in 2025, with supermarket sales - including Migros Online - reaching 12.7 billion CHF, representing a 0.5% decline compared to the prior year. The group employed 98,776 people in 2024. It operates 376 M-Migros stores (averaging 815 square metres), 217 MM-Migros stores (averaging 2,248 square metres), and 50 MMM-Migros locations (averaging 6,693 square metres) across Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and border regions of France.
The cooperative structure means Migros has approximately 2.28 million members - a notable decline of 1.7% in 2024, the first net membership drop since 1941. Digital traffic generated by this customer base underpins the advertising inventory now being offered to brands.
Migros Supermarkt AG, which manages the supermarket business since January 2024, is structured as a subsidiary of the MGB. Mario Irminger serves as President of the MGB's executive board. The Migros cooperative traces its origins to 1925, when Gottlieb Duttweiler began selling from mobile trucks in Zurich before transforming the business into a cooperative structure in 1941.
Switzerland has lagged behind other European markets in retail media development. European retail media spending grew 22.1% in 2024, according to data cited across multiple PPC Land analyses of the sector, far outpacing the 6.1% growth of the broader advertising market. Yet until this announcement, the Swiss grocery sector had no publicly available retail media product from a major domestic retailer.
The Migros-Criteo partnership marks the first time a Swiss grocery retailer has brought internationally standardized retail media formats - specifically Sponsored Products and Display Ads - to a domestic digital storefront. The grocery category is particularly valuable in this context: unlike apparel or electronics, grocery shoppers visit platforms with high frequency and reveal detailed behavioral signals through basket composition and purchase recurrence.
Criteo's MRC accreditation for retail media measurement, obtained in March 2024, covers its Commerce Max and Commerce Yield platforms for Onsite Sponsored Products and Onsite Display Ads - precisely the formats going live with Migros. The accreditation covers display rendered impressions and clicks across desktop, mobile web, and in-app environments. This provides a standardized quality signal that Swiss brand partners can reference when evaluating the offering.
Sponsored Product Ads appear within the retailer's own digital environment - in this case migros.ch and the Migros app - surfaced when a shopper's browsing or search behaviour indicates relevant purchase intent. The ad placement responds to keyword searches, category navigation, and other onsite signals. The format is native to the commerce experience, appearing alongside organic product results rather than in traditional banner positions.
Onsite Display Ads, which Migros has described as coming soon, function more like traditional digital display advertising but within the retailer's owned properties. These can support both brand awareness objectives and lower-funnel conversion campaigns.
Criteo's infrastructure uses what the company calls its Commerce Yield platform on the retailer side to manage inventory and monetization, and Commerce Max on the advertiser/demand side. Closed-loop measurement connects ad exposure to transactions using Migros' own purchase data, removing the attribution gaps that characterise off-site advertising.
The portfolio is described as continuously developing, with Migros indicating its retail media offerings will expand in line with market developments to create "additional opportunities for brands to plan and optimize campaigns along the customer journey in an even more targeted manner."
The Migros deal arrives during a complex period for Criteo. The company reported Q4 2025 revenue of $541 million, a 2% year-over-year decline, with contribution ex-TAC falling 1% to $330 million. A previously disclosed restructuring of Criteo's largest retail media client relationship created a $25 million Q4 headwind, with an expected $75 million impact across the first ten months of 2026.
Despite those headwinds, Criteo reported that media spend grew 25% in Q4 2025 as its 4,100 global brands increased retail media allocations. Same-retailer contribution ex-TAC retention reached 99% - or 110% excluding the largest retailer - reflecting the stickiness of multi-year exclusive arrangements with most retail partners. Adding Migros contributes a grocery asset in a market with high purchase frequency and a well-established loyalty infrastructure through the M-Cumulus program, which Migros has operated since 1997.
Criteo has been systematically broadening its retail network through multiple deals in 2025: a June 2025 launch of auction-based display technology that brought programmatic bidding to retail media, a partnership with Google as its first onsite retail media partner for Search Ads 360 in September 2025, and a multi-year deal with DoorDash announced in October 2025. The Migros partnership extends this European grocery presence into Switzerland.
For brand managers at companies that supply products to Migros, the platform provides a new channel to influence shopper behaviour at the point of purchase rather than upstream in the funnel. The emphasis on closed-loop attribution means campaign results can be evaluated in terms of actual sales, not just impressions or clicks.
Non-endemic advertisers - companies whose products are not sold through Migros - gain access to a grocery audience demographic defined by regular, high-frequency shopping behaviour. The platform's audience composition reflects Migros' 2.28 million cooperative members and its position serving customers across all Swiss cantons, Liechtenstein, and cross-border locations.
Criteo markets the partnership with Migros as part of what it frames as the emergence of Swiss retail media. The company's DACH regional leadership team, based in Munich, will manage the commercial relationship with brand partners.
Who: Migros Retail Media, part of Migros Supermarkt AG (a subsidiary of the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund), and Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO), a global commerce media platform company with access to more than $1 trillion in annual commerce sales.
What: A retail media partnership launching Sponsored Product Ads - and soon Onsite Display Ads - on migros.ch and the Migros app, using Criteo's technology and commercial network to target shoppers with data-driven advertising during active purchasing sessions. Closed-loop measurement connects ad exposure to actual sales.
When: Announced on February 26, 2026, with Sponsored Product Ads live from launch and Onsite Display Ads described as coming soon.
Where: Switzerland, on the Migros website (migros.ch) and the Migros mobile app. Migros operates across all Swiss cantons, Liechtenstein, and cross-border locations in France.
Why: Migros aims to monetize its digital platforms and offer brand partners measurable, purchase-intent-driven advertising. Criteo, facing revenue headwinds from a major client restructuring that will suppress approximately $75 million in revenue through the first ten months of 2026, benefits from adding a high-frequency grocery retailer in a European market where retail media has previously been underdeveloped. Both parties describe the move as bringing internationally established retail media standards to Switzerland's grocery sector for the first time.
