How to Sell on Kroger Marketplace

Kroger is a US retail company that operates supermarkets and departments stores all over the US. In fact, it is the nation’s largest grocery retailer and recently launched its own online marketplace. But what is Kroger Marketplace? And how can brands get their products listed there?

• What is Kroger Marketplace?
• The benefits of selling on Kroger Marketplace
• How to sell on Kroger Marketplace
• Improve your product listings for marketplaces

What is Kroger Marketplace?

Discussion of Kroger Marketplace might cause confusion because the company's larger stores are also referred to as Kroger Marketplaces.

We are not talking about physical stores.

In this guide to selling on Kroger Marketplace, we are referring to the company's online third-party marketplace, rather than their physical stores. As e-commerce continues to grow, many online companies, like Kroger, have attempted to expand their businesses by hosting products from third parties. Similar to the Amazon and eBay propositions, the likes of Macy’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Kroger are all now operating third-party marketplaces.

In Kroger’s case, their marketplace helped them to over $11 billion in ecommerce sales last year. This puts them at no. 9 in a list of the nation’s largest e-commerce retailers. Not a bad start!

Wouldn’t it be nice to grab a portion of those sales? In this guide we outline exactly how selling on Kroger Marketplace works.

The benefits of selling on Kroger Marketplace

At the end of 2020, the company noticed how the shopping habits of its customers were changing. Particularly this could be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic but their excellent ecommerce results weren’t entirely because of it. Users of Kroger Ship – the service which saw shopping delivered to customer’s homes – were constantly increasing, and Kroger doubled down on the opportunity.

Their aim was to allow third-party sellers to offer products through the Kroger platform. By partnering with Mirakl, a digital developer responsible for other marketplaces including Urban Outfitters and Bloomingdale’s, 50,000 new items were quickly added to Kroger’s website for their customers to buy.

One of the key benefits of having your products listed is that the company is focusing on offering products they don’t normally offer. This includes world food items or organic foods – something most Americans wouldn’t ordinarily be buying. This represents a fantastic opportunity as you aren’t even competing with Kroger for the sale.

Benefit from Kroger's Popularity, Data and Marketing

Another benefit is that sellers enjoy the popularity of Kroger’s brand. In 2021, in a survey of more than 1,000 US brands, the company was listed as the 2nd most popular channel that brands would consider selling on. This was just behind Google but ahead of the likes of Amazon and Walmart! (Psst! Grab our free guide to Google Shopping.)

Another great aspect of selling on the Kroger Marketplace is that you benefit from their brilliant marketing. Kroger emails have an open rate that is 18% above the industry average and they are excellent at personalization. This often leads to even more sales.

Their CEO, Rodney McMullen, even talks of how brilliant Kroger’s data insights are on quarterly earnings calls.

“Many retailers have transactional data, but no one has the customer data and the insights that Kroger has.”

Rodney McMullen, CEO, Kroger

Kroger Marketplace has been a resounding success for the company with their digital sales expected to double by the end of 2023. But how can you take advantage of the opportunity of selling on Kroger?

How to sell on Kroger Marketplace

With 56% of ecommerce sales taking place on online third-party marketplaces, now is a great time to be selling on Kroger Marketplace.

Unlike Amazon and eBay, the Kroger Marketplace is a closed marketplace. This means that the company decides which sellers are allowed to sell on their platform.

In order to be considered, businesses must complete a Prospect Vendor pre-registration form. Although this doesn’t make you a supplier, it starts your qualification process journey and signs up your company for Kroger’s vendor management system, Supplier Hub.

Once your on-boarding status shows ‘Prospect Registration Complete’, your company will be included in upcoming sourcing events. These are events that might see you awarded business and becoming a Kroger supplier.

When you are awarded business by the company, more information will be required to fully activate your vendor profile in the Kroger system. The Supplier Hub requirements are long so having documentation ready in advance is recommended.

Improve your product listings for marketplaces

Get help with your marketplace management and selling on Kroger’s with Intelligent Reach. An award-winning platform that allows for content experimentation (A/B testing any product data attribute), custom labelling, feed optimization and more. We are used by hundreds of global brands and retailers including Nike, Fitbit and Kate Spade.

Because Mirakl powers Kroger’s marketplace (as well as Macy’s, Express and other US marketplaces), it is extremely easy to improve your product feed management to set yourself up for selling on Kroger.

We offer a free product data feed audit and help with selling on hundreds of other channels and marketplaces as well. Download the marketplace management e-book to learn more.