Ace Hardware launched its retail media network with a blank slate.
The hardware retailer debuted RedVest Media about a year ago as a means to give brands a targeted approach to advertising. The program has accelerated to include an expanded partnership with DoorDash, influencer marketing capabilities and weather-triggered advertising.
The company that was founded in 1924 by a group of Chicago hardware store owners announced those new capabilities, along with others, at its inaugural Upfront event at Wrigley Field at the end of August.
One of the retailer’s goals is to build a media network that leverages its over 5,300 stores, digital network and 80 million loyalty customers.
“I don’t think about myself as in the business of selling a particular product,” Molly Hjelm, head of RedVest Media, said in an interview with Retail Dive. “We’re in the business of building national brands.”
Building brands
RedVest Media offers full-funnel advertising with a number of services including onsite ads, email and push messaging, in-store signage and offsite programmatic through display, video and mobile.
The company has joined other hardware-focused retailers in its pursuit of brand advertising dollars. Lowe’s two years ago updated its media network with new branding, more ad placements within its app and additional marketing channels, including in-store audio, email, paid search and direct mail.
Home Depot introduced its retail media offering in 2018 and rebranded as Orange Apron Media in 2024.
“We are not going to beat Home Depot and Lowe’s on level of spend, but we will beat Home Depot and Lowe’s on consistency being our superpower,” Ace Hardware Chief Marketing Officer Kim Lefko said at the Chicago event.
Lefko pointed to the company’s brick-and-mortar network, wherein 80% of U.S. households are within 10 minutes of a store. “It’s easy to get in and out and back to your project quicker than any other retail,” Lefko said.
She also pointed to the company’s digital offering. The company’s website traffic was up 26% year over year, while the retailer’s app shopper visits the retailer two times more and spends two times more than other customers.
But one of the most important ways Ace is differentiating itself from other retail media networks, according to Lefko, is that the company is interested in supporting brands, versus pulling info to influence its own private labels.
“We die a little inside when we watch you guys go to retail partners — invest and grow in a retailer partner — that takes the insight on your product to knock off and drive private labels and wholesale products that look and feel so much like yours to benefit them and not you,” Lefko said. “It kills us.”
New offerings
Building on an on-demand delivery partnership first announced last year with DoorDash, Ace Hardware announced a new advertising capability. Shoppers can now engage with the retailer via DoorDash sponsored ads and sponsored brands that are designed to increase product visibility and push purchase decisions while customers are building an order.
The company has also introduced a means of working with Ace-vetted creators in order to reach shoppers through social media channels.
Interacting with influencers is where customer trust is shifting, according to Hjelm. “We know our customers are coming into the store with an immediate project need. They need help,” she said in an interview. “Watching somebody interact with a product is an amazing way to increase the likelihood of conversion.”
Additionally, the company is leaning into its locally owned store model to provide weather-triggered programmatic advertising. The function will help brands deliver messages when weather dictates household needs.
“Ace is the place that stays open and that stocks additional product ahead of hurricanes,” Hjelm said. “What we were finding from a media network standpoint is that our vendors were doing this highly manual process. And I should caveat too: We're not just talking about disaster or inclement weather. We're talking about precipitation. We're talking about snowfall. It doesn't have to be at significant levels. … There are so many brands that are so highly seasonal and so highly weather dependent, and so is Ace’s business.”
Ace is also building an audience library to connect brands with the retailer’s base of DIYers and other shoppers focused on maintaining their homes.
Over 90% of Ace customers own their homes. “We kind of own this relationship between national brands and customers who manage through the enjoyment, the upkeep and the renovation of their most valuable asset,” Hjelm said. “That is an audience that’s extremely valuable to financial institutions, insurance companies, HELOC companies — anybody that has a brand built around the home, the yard. So I’m really interested to see that take off and see how that resonates. We're already getting a lot of inbound requests about our audience.”
Stores and digital
Ace’s stores, the majority of which are independently owned and operated, are important when it comes to advertising due to scale and reach, according to Hjelm.
The company last week announced that it opened its 100th store for the year and is on track to open 170 by the end of 2026. Over the past six years, the retailer has added over 1,100 locations to its network.
A particular focus has been the company’s experiential store format, Elevate Ace, which was introduced in 2024. The concept is up 12% in same-store sales versus regular format stores, according to Lefko.
Executives also pointed to its digital offerings. The number one area that RedVest Media has campaign investment is on the retailer’s website, Lefko said.
“The greatest success are those campaigns that are running on AceHardware.com,” she said.
Executives emphasized that where brands are investing their marketing dollars matters.
“I just want people to feel maybe we have some of the same tools, and we have some unique tools as well … but you can trust that where you're building your brand is a place that is in the business of keeping your brand in business for the next 100 years,” Hjelm said.
