Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden · Cannes
Austin Leonard of DG Media Network on Dollar General’s Retail Media and In-Store Growth
Who’s on this episode
Hosted by Jeanniey Walden, founder and host of Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden, recorded at Cannes.
What you’ll learn
- What DG Media Network is, and how it connects brands like Coca-Cola and P&G to Dollar General shoppers.
- Why 21,000-plus stores, more than McDonald’s or Starbucks, is a retail media advantage.
- How same-day delivery brings the last mile of e-commerce to the last mile of America.
- Why marketing and merchandising operate as a partnership, not a turf war.
- How Leonard distinguishes retail media from commerce media.
- Why in-store, including the DG in-store radio network, is the biggest growth lever.
Episode highlights
- 00:00Meet Austin Leonard and DG Media Network
- 00:52What DG Media Network is, and 21,000+ stores
- 01:52Same-day delivery: the last mile of e-commerce to the last mile of America
- 02:45Marketing and merchandising as a real partnership
- 03:06America’s general store: 20,000 products, not a dollar store
- 04:33Three things to know to join DGMN
- 05:22Retail media vs commerce media
- 05:58The future: measurement, standards, and in-store
- 06:56In-store as the growth lever: DG in-store radio
Episode summary
Dollar General is bigger than most people realize: more than 21,000 stores across the US, more than McDonald’s or Starbucks. DG Media Network is the arm that lets vendor partners, the Coca-Colas and P&Gs of the world, tap into Dollar General’s technology to reach customers and drive sales. Austin Leonard runs it, and his message from Cannes, Dollar General’s first time at the festival, is that brands are asking for more, and the network is leveling up to meet them.
A big part of that is convenience. Over the past year, Dollar General rolled out same-day delivery across more than 18,000 stores, most within an hour and half within 30 minutes. Leonard’s framing is memorable: bringing the last mile of e-commerce to the last mile of America. Because so much of the footprint is rural, it delivers e-commerce convenience to customers who often have not had it, and it deepens the digital presence the media network runs on.
He is also clear that marketing and merchandising are partners, not rivals. With roughly 20,000 products in a 7,500 to 8,500 square foot store, the merchants see the media network as the way suppliers tell customers about products they might otherwise miss on a quick fill-in trip. Dollar General, he insists, is America’s general store, not a dollar store. And with his CMO Tony Rogers, the team has built integrated programs, back-to-school and holiday campaigns that blend enterprise marketing with retail media rather than running standalone.
On the future, Leonard is bullish, and specific. Measurement across a brand’s retail partners matters, industry standards are maturing, and the real frontier is in-store. Dollar General expanded its in-store audio from a 6,000-store pilot to nearly 12,000 stores by the end of July, pairing better in-store music with relevant ads. With 21,000 stores, he says, in-store is a huge lever, and it is where the growth is.
Key takeaways
- 00:52 DG Media Network connects vendor partners like Coca-Cola and P&G to Dollar General’s customers across 21,000+ US stores, more than McDonald’s or Starbucks.
- 01:52 Same-day delivery now runs in 18,000+ stores, most within an hour and half within 30 minutes, bringing the last mile of e-commerce to the last mile of America.
- 03:06 Marketing and merchandising is a real partnership: merchants see the media network as how suppliers tell customers about products they’d otherwise miss.
- 03:06 Dollar General is America’s general store, 7,500 to 8,500 square feet with 20,000+ products, not a dollar store.
- 04:33 To join DGMN: put customer value first, use integrated marketing plus retail media, and pick from flexible buy-in options (self-service, managed, on-site, off-site).
- 05:27 Retail media is a subgenre of commerce media, the first one to get a name.
- 06:56 In-store is a huge growth lever: the DG in-store radio network expanded from a 6,000-store pilot to nearly 12,000 stores by end of July.
Questions people ask
Who is Austin Leonard?
Austin Leonard is Vice President and General Manager of DG Media Network, the retail media network of Dollar General. He leads how vendor partners reach Dollar General customers across the retailer’s stores and digital channels.
What is DG Media Network?
DG Media Network is Dollar General’s retail media network. It helps vendor partners, such as Coca-Cola and P&G, tap into Dollar General’s technology to reach customers, promote products, and drive sales across the retailer’s stores and digital presence.
How big is Dollar General?
Dollar General has more than 21,000 stores in the US, more than McDonald’s or Starbucks. The average store is roughly 7,500 to 8,500 square feet with more than 20,000 products. Leonard describes it as America’s general store, not a dollar store, and often the most convenient option in rural markets.
What is the difference between retail media and commerce media?
Leonard frames retail media as a subgenre of commerce media. Retail media got the name first, but it is part of the broader commerce media category, which now includes traditional digital media players building their own commerce media networks.
What is Dollar General’s same-day delivery?
Dollar General has rolled out same-day delivery across more than 18,000 stores, with most trips within an hour and half of deliveries within 30 minutes. Leonard calls it bringing the last mile of e-commerce to the last mile of America, giving rural customers e-commerce convenience many have not had before, and strengthening the media network’s digital reach.
What is the DG in-store radio network?
The DG in-store radio network is Dollar General’s in-store audio program. It expanded from a 6,000-store pilot to nearly 12,000 stores by the end of July, pairing music with relevant ads that help customers find favorite products and offers. Leonard sees in-store as a huge growth lever across 21,000 stores.
Full transcript
Austin Leonard: Hi, I’m Austin Leonard, VP and GM of Dollar General’s Media Network, DG Media Network.
Jeanniey Walden: I’m here with Austin from Dollar General’s Media Network, and we’re going to talk all about retail media, commerce media, and the future between marketing, merchandising, and media. I’m so excited to have you here at Cannes. Dollar General, one of my favorite stores in the world, has a retail media network, and you’re responsible for it. For people watching and listening, tell them what that means.
Austin Leonard: Dollar General has over 21,000 locations in the US, more than McDonald’s or Starbucks. We’ve had a media network business for the past couple of years, and DG Media Network is the arm of the company that helps our vendor partners, the Coca-Colas and P&Gs of the world, tap into the technology to talk to our customers and promote their products and sales. We’ve been on a mission, especially over the last year, to level up. Brands are asking for more, and that’s why we’re here at Cannes, our first time, because this is where the CMOs and SVPs of commerce want to talk about how we bring this partnership together to grow our businesses in new and meaningful ways.
Jeanniey Walden: Especially with the economy like it is, Dollar General is booming with interest from both the product side and the customer side. Your media network has to be exploding.
Austin Leonard: Where we’ve really invested over the past year is in rolling out same-day delivery in over 18,000 of our stores. Most of those trips are within one hour, and half of our deliveries right now are within 30 minutes. Going from a traditional brick-and-mortar way to service customers, now we can bring convenience. I like to call it bringing the last mile of e-commerce to the last mile of America, because many of our stores are in rural markets, and this gives us the ability to bring the benefits of e-commerce to customers who typically haven’t had it. What’s important for the media network side is that it’s built up our digital presence. Our customers have always been digitally heavy, active on many platforms, always searching for offers, and now we can also help them get products delivered to their doors.
Jeanniey Walden: How does your merchandising team feel about the media network? I’ve been a CMO on the marketing side battling merchandising, who felt those dollars were just coming out of their end caps, when it’s truly a partnership. Do you hear the same thing?
Austin Leonard: It’s truly a partnership on our side, and the merchants are absolutely supportive. Our average store footprint is 7,500 to 8,500 square feet, with over 20,000 products. We have the same products as the big box and many local stores. We’re not a dollar store, that’s a common misconception. We’re a very local, convenient general store, America’s general store. The merchants see the media network as the way for suppliers and vendors to tell all our customers about the great products they have. Many times our customers are on a mission, a quick or fill-in trip, but there are so many products we want them to know are there. We’re the arm that helps suppliers talk to our customers.
Jeanniey Walden: My mother-in-law lives in a part of California with almost no stores. The Rite Aid closed when Rite Aid filed bankruptcy, and there’s no grocery store within 20 miles. But there’s a Dollar General, and I cannot tell you how many things I bought, walking the aisles saying, this is amazing. When we realized we could go online too, it was the biggest gift. So for someone who wants to be part of your media network, what are three things you’d tell them?
Austin Leonard: Three things. One, think about what’s important to the customer first: how are we bringing value, introducing a new product they didn’t know we had, and promoting new service offerings that save them time. Two, I’m here with my CMO, Tony Rogers, and we’ve built a model where enterprise marketing and the retail media network work together, so for back-to-school or holiday we can integrate brands into our messaging. The programs we run aren’t standalone retail media campaigns, they’re integrated experiences that drive sales together and create a better experience for the customer. And three, we’ve been on a mission at DGMN to bring new buy-in options, so whether you need self-service, managed service, on-site, or off-site, we have a flexible platform based on how brands want to buy.
Jeanniey Walden: Retail media, commerce media, in your mind what’s the difference?
Austin Leonard: Retail media was the first one to get the name, but it’s a subgenre of the species commerce media. Some of the traditional digital media players are starting to roll out commerce media networks, but they’ve been doing ad networks for a long time. So commerce media is the overall category, and retail media is part of it.
Jeanniey Walden: What do you think the future is for retail media? You hear that Amazon and Walmart own the space and everybody else is just a dip in the water.
Austin Leonard: The future of retail media is really bright. A couple of key things: one, the ability to keep working with brands to measure their sales across all their retail partners is really important, and as an industry we’ve worked hard to build the retail media standards that answer brands’ demands. I also think there’s a lot of opportunity in-store. In-store services are starting to be recognized as a key time to reach customers in unique and interesting ways. For example, we just expanded our in-store audio from an initial 6,000-store pilot, we don’t do small things at DG, to almost 12,000 stores by the end of July. The DG in-store radio network lets us naturally produce a better environment with music, plus relevant ads that help customers find favorite products or the latest offer. In-store is a huge lever.
Jeanniey Walden: In-store is your growth opportunity.
Austin Leonard: It is. When you have 21,000 stores, it’s a huge opportunity.
Jeanniey Walden: That is huge. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. Everybody, stay tuned, we’ll be right back.
Austin Leonard: Absolutely, thanks for having me.
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