Albertsons Adds Sponsored Product Discovery to AI Search

Albertsons Media Collective integrated Criteo's commerce platform to place sponsored products within its AI-powered conversational search carousels, aiming to connect brands with shoppers during exploratory queries. Over 85% of AI search conversations begin with such queries, and participating advertisers include McCormick.

Albertsons Media Collective announced a new integration with Criteo, the commerce intelligence platform, that places eligible sponsored products inside Albertsons' AI-powered conversational search product carousels, according to a Business Wire press release distributed June 23, 2026. The integration is intended to let brands connect with shoppers during planning and basket-building moments; Albertsons says more than 85% of conversations in its AI search begin with exploratory queries. The initiative includes participating advertisers such as McCormick , per the release, and Criteo leadership framed the work as an expansion of retail media into AI-driven discovery. Editorial analysis: Companies adapting retail media to conversational experiences often treat sponsored placements as discovery-augmenting signals rather than interruptive ads, which changes measurement priorities for advertisers and data teams.