The consumer journey is CPG marketing’s ‘North Star’ — and why brands can’t discount promotion strategies

A new study from Circana and Ibotta Inc. shows that promotions can deliver measurable incremental business outcomes, with Ibotta's Chief Revenue Officer Chris Riedy emphasizing that promotions should complement, not compete with, media strategies. The study applies media-effectiveness methodologies to promotional performance, and Ibotta has expanded its performance-based promotions to the convenience store channel through a partnership with 7-Eleven, allowing brands to reach shoppers via the Ibotta Performance Network.

Join us Sept. 14-16 in Miami to connect with top publishing leaders SECURE YOUR SEAT https://digiday.com/events/digiday-publishing-summit-sep-26/?source=display&utm-source=display The consumer journey is CPG marketing’s ‘North Star’ — and why brands can’t discount promotion strategies Economic uncertainty and changing shopping behaviors are pushing brands to rethink how different channels work together. With the exponential growth of AI and the media landscape’s continued fragmentation, savvy CPG marketers are focused on connecting media, promotions and commerce to drive incremental sales. A new study from Circana and Ibotta Inc shows that promotions can deliver measurable incremental business outcomes. Circana used the same methodologies typically applied to media effectiveness to evaluate promotional performance. “We want all marketers to understand that a promotion should not be competitive to anything you’re doing from a media standpoint,” said Chris Riedy, Chief Revenue Officer at Ibotta. “It should be complementary, and when executed effectively, that promotion will drive incremental impact.” In a non-linear shopping journey, convenience and value remain differentiators Consumer experiences are no longer as simple as someone seeing an ad on television, going to the grocery store, finding the advertised product and making a purchase. “If we step back and think about the shopping journey, it is much more of a jungle gym today than it is a linear funnel,” Riedy said. “Today, we have a lot of different things happening, like AI-powered recommendations. However, I think the value that a promotion can provide is the same you’d find in a traditional retail ecosystem.” As U.S. consumers increasingly prioritize price and quality over brand affinity https://ipn.ibotta.com/resource-hub/state-of-spend-2026 , promotions are one way for brands to stand out by offering value to consumers — regardless of where shopping begins. Promotions can be impactful even in last-mile environments, such as delivery platforms where consumers are especially driven by convenience. For instance, Ibotta’s offers are natively embedded within the shopping experience at Walmart and the big three last-mile platforms DoorDash, Instacart and Uber . When paired with retail media, these offers accelerate commerce. “The uncertainty in the economy today is driving the consumer to think a little bit more and to be a little more judicious about how they’re spending their dollars,” Riedy said. “If one search result has a cashback reward tied to it and the other doesn’t, for the value-driven consumer, they’re going to be very interested in that cashback offer.” Promotions are earning a place in CPG brands’ media plans Ibotta works with brands and retailers to engage consumers during high-intent commerce moments across various settings — not just at the grocery store shelf. Here, AI is playing an essential role in getting the right offer in front of the right person at the right time, rather than simply identifying the right offer, Riedy explained. For the first time, Ibotta is bringing its performance-based promotions to the convenience store channel through a recently announced partnership with 7-Eleven. CPG brands will have a direct pathway to 7-Eleven and Speedway shoppers through the Ibotta Performance Network. Those shoppers will be able to clip Ibotta-powered offers directly inside 7-Eleven, Inc. apps before purchasing in-store, at the pump or via delivery. Rewards will be deposited directly into shoppers’ loyalty accounts, while brands will only pay when there is a verified sale of their product. “What we’re trying to do in all of these ecosystems is just provide the opportunity for better value, so that those budget-conscious consumers can find what they need,” Riedy said. “That’s not different than we would see in Walmart. It’s not different than we would see in Dollar General. It just is built purposely for that convenience-driven consumer that wants the product right now.” Brands including Chomps are also reaching new shoppers and driving incremental household growth through partnerships with Ibotta. A meta-study through measurement firm Circana analyzed nearly 50 Ibotta campaigns https://ipn.ibotta.com/resource-hub/circana-meta-study-2026 , including Chomps, across multiple CPG categories using the same methodology applied to media effectiveness research. According to Circana, on average, the Ibotta campaigns drove a 16.5% sales lift and a 17% increase in new household penetration — exceeding total store benchmarks by 7x and 8x, respectively. For Chomps, the campaign generated a double-digit percentage sales boost https://ipn.ibotta.com/resource-hub/chomps-case-study , outperforming Circana snack category benchmarks by more than 4.5x. “That is a meaningful difference; that’s sales that you would not have received otherwise,” Riedy said. “Ultimately, I think that should be the guiding question for all CPGs: Can we find a way to deliver a sale that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?” Trade and media plans are converging to unlock stronger performance To better drive incremental sales, Riedy recommended CPG marketers use the consumer journey as guidance and move away from siloed strategies. “The challenge is that there’s media spend on one side, and there’s trade spend on the other, and those teams at times are siloed. They actually don’t talk to each other,” Riedy said. “You think about how can media work, how can trade work, how does in-store work, how does online work? What we’re seeing the best brands do is think about it less as media and trade, and more about just the consumer journey as the North Star and bringing it all together into one kind of commerce ecosystem.” While retail media and trade complement each other to drive intent and influence a purchase, partners like Ibotta work to convert that purchase. For Riedy, the Circana study is proof of concept for his philosophy that CPG strategies should be structured on the consumer journey and ultimately evaluated on outcomes. “Inside these heritage brands, they are pulling together those trade and media teams to talk about one common denominator: how many units are you moving? Are they incremental to what we’re doing before?” he said. “That’s why forward-thinking brands are consolidating trade and media into a single accountable line item. 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