Kroger's data arm watches 60 million households and sells your shopping habits back to brands.

Kroger is the biggest supermarket chain in America. Nearly 2,700 stores under names like Ralphs, Fred Meyer, and Harris Teeter, and about $150 billion in sales a year. Grocery is a brutal business, though, with profit margins of one to two percent. So Kroger quietly built a second business that earns far more per dollar.

One scan closes a loop: a small discount comes back to you, your basket record flows to Kroger's data arm 84.51, and your buying habits are sold back to the very brand on the shelf you bought from.: you scan the card · small discount · 84.51, Kroger's data arm · ~60M households · the Tide maker · your habits, sold back

The arm is called 84.51, after the longitude line that runs through Kroger's headquarters in Cincinnati. The buyers of its data are the brands on Kroger's own shelves. Procter & Gamble wants to know who buys Tide and what lands in the cart beside it, and Kroger charges for the answer.

That 'alternative profit' business cleared about $1.35 billion in operating profit in 2024, at margins the grocery aisles could never touch. The chicken and cereal barely break even. The record of who bought them is where the money is.

When the discount is free, your shopping behavior is the product being sold.