Gopuff Ads: the instant-delivery retail media network, explained

Gopuff owns the shelf and the last mile. It stocks its own products in its own micro-fulfillment centers and delivers them itself. That lets the ad team put physical things in a customer's bag. Keebler, for example, gave selected customers free cookies with their delivery and paid the fee and tip. Head of ads Michael Peroutka says new products launched with sampling sold 70% more by month four, based on two years of Gopuff campaigns (company claim, Retail Media Breakfast Club, 26 October 2026). Few networks can sell trial this directly.

Gopuff also gave away the part most networks guard. In September 2026 it agreed to run its onsite ads on Instacart's Carrot Ads, though Instacart competes with it in fast delivery. Peroutka's reasoning was demand: Carrot Ads brings more than 9,000 advertisers and a 300-person Instacart sales team. "I'm a realist," he said. Gopuff now spends its own effort on the custom work only it can run. A year earlier, it had been the first retailer to sell onsite inventory programmatically through The Trade Desk, using Koddi (P2PI, 14 October 2025). The ad stack has changed twice in a year.

Third, Gopuff sells an audience as much as a store. Peroutka says about 80% of customers are aged 18 to 34 (company claim, Retail Media Breakfast Club, 26 October 2026). He also sells to Netflix, Hulu and FanDuel, which Gopuff does not stock, and says he thinks of himself as a digital publisher. Retail Media Breakfast Club places Gopuff at the media-first end of retail networks, opposite retail-first Costco.

Onsite. Sponsored product ads and other in-app placements run on Gopuff's app and site and on BevMo!. Carrot Ads serves them, and Gopuff can customise the ad experience.

Sampling and experiential. Brands can add free products to orders and run event-led stunts. Gopuff fulfils M&M's "Rescue Squad", a Halloween campaign that sends free candy to people who run out. In 2025 orders peaked four minutes after launch, according to Gopuff (Retail Media Breakfast Club, 26 October 2026).

Offsite. Gopuff Ads sells custom offsite experiences built on its first-party data. Gopuff has not named the channels.

Every Gopuff order comes from Gopuff's own inventory, so it sees exactly what each customer buys and when. GrowthLoop, a data vendor, says it helped Gopuff grow from 100 to more than 600 syndicated audience segments. It also says custom segments now take less than 48 hours (vendor claim, shown on the Retail Media Breakfast Club page). Advertisers receive audiences and reports, not customer records.

Carrot Ads metrics for impressions, clicks, click-through rate and viewable impressions are accredited by the Media Rating Council for partner placements (Instacart, 6 November 2025). Gopuff joined after that accreditation, so ask whether its placements fall inside the audited scope. Through Koddi, Gopuff also offered analytics connecting ad exposure to purchases. For sampling, Gopuff reports sales after trial, such as the month-four figure above. Retail media measurement standards explained explains what accreditation does and does not prove.

1. Extend an Instacart Ads campaign to Gopuff and BevMo! if you already buy Instacart; the Carrot Ads vendor profile explains the mechanics.
2. Book Gopuff-only campaigns through your Instacart team when you want just Gopuff's storefront.
3. Talk to Gopuff Ads directly for sampling, experiential and custom offsite programs.
4. Ask about programmatic access. Check whether Gopuff inventory is still available in The Trade Desk through Koddi.
5. Set the success metric. Agree whether you are buying sales, trial or awareness, and which numbers are audited.

It suits:

• snack, beverage and alcohol brands that want younger, late-night shoppers;
• brands launching new products that benefit from sampling;
• non-endemic advertisers, such as streaming and sports betting brands, that want a youth audience.

It suits less:

• brands that need broad grocery reach across age groups;
• advertisers who want a single self-serve console for every Gopuff format;
• buyers who need audited sales attribution for experiential work.

• The exact launch date of Gopuff's ad business.
• When Carrot Ads went live on Gopuff, and whether the Koddi and Trade Desk route continues.
• Whether Gopuff's placements fall inside Instacart's MRC-accredited scope.
• Ad revenue, rate card, minimum spend and whether ads are sold in Gopuff's UK business.

1. Instacart and Gopuff via PR Newswire, "Instacart and Gopuff Announce New, First-of-Its-Kind Partnership in the U.S." (22 September 2026). https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/instacart-and-gopuff-announce-new-first-of-its-kind-partnership-in-the-us-302885692.html
2. Retail Media Breakfast Club, "Gopuff's head of ads: 'I'm a realist'" (26 October 2026; first published in The Drum on 16 October 2026). https://retailmediabreakfastclub.com/gopuffs-head-of-ads-im-a-realist/
3. Path to Purchase Institute, "News Briefs" on Gopuff, The Trade Desk and Koddi (14 October 2025). https://p2pi.com/gopuff-offer-site-media-trade-desk-koddi-integration
4. Instacart, "Instacart Receives Expanded MRC Accreditation for Carrot Ads" (6 November 2025). https://www.instacart.com/company/pressreleases/instacart-receives-mrc-accreditation-for-carrot-ads
5. CNBC, "DoorDash to acquire Instacart for $17 billion" (October 2026). https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/28/doordash-instacart-maplebear.html