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Ace Hardware’s year-old RedVest Media retail media network has influenced more than $100 million in Ace retail sales and signed more than 100 vendors, according to Hardware Retailing. The vendor-funded program added social and influencer marketing, weather-triggered ads, and DoorDash storefront advertising following a summer expansion.
Ace Hardware’s RedVest Media retail media network has influenced more than $100 million in Ace retail sales in its first year, according to a Hardware Retailing interview with Molly Hjelm, corporate vice president and head of the network. More than 100 vendors have joined the vendor-funded program since its launch in fall 2025, and Ace has expanded it with new advertising formats aimed at driving business to its locally owned stores.
RedVest Media was introduced to Ace’s vendor community at the 2025 Ace Fall Convention in Chicago and formally launched days later. A year on, following the 2026 Ace Fall Convention in Orlando, Hjelm told NHPA that the network now gives vendors a centralized way to advertise through Ace’s digital ecosystem while using Ace Rewards data to measure whether customers who saw the ads went on to make purchases. That ecosystem includes advertising on Acehardware.com, email and push messaging, and offsite display, video, connected TV and mobile advertising.
The program is funded entirely by participating vendors, which use it to promote products sold through Ace. Individual Ace retailers have no campaign to build and no advertising buy to manage; the store-level benefit comes when vendor-funded marketing raises awareness of products and converts that interest into purchases at local stores. “With RedVest, all of our retailers benefit from an influx of marketing, driving awareness and foot traffic to their stores as a result of vendors investing to message their products,” Hjelm said.
Ace expanded the network’s capabilities this summer after gathering feedback from participating vendors. Additions announced at RedVest’s inaugural Upfront event in August included social and influencer marketing, weather-triggered programmatic advertising, and advertising within Ace’s storefront on DoorDash. The DoorDash placement targets a customer segment that had not previously shopped inside an Ace store, such as buyers with immediate needs for propane or firewood.
Why Vendors and Local Stores Care
The program addresses a structural challenge created by Ace’s cooperative model. A vendor seeking visibility across thousands of independently owned stores traditionally worked through buying shows, corporate promotional opportunities and individual retailer relationships. RedVest adds a centralized channel for reaching known Ace customers across the roughly 5,300-store co-op, which Hjelm described as a complex environment for brands to communicate in at scale.
For local retailers, the significance is financial: vendor advertising dollars flow into marketing that drives awareness and foot traffic without any cost or campaign management on the store’s part. For vendors, the closed-loop measurement built on Ace Rewards data lets them judge campaigns by actual purchases rather than impressions or clicks, including return on advertising spend, total sales impact, and the share of converted customers who are new to their brand. RedVest has also added incrementality measurement for offsite advertising, designed to show whether a campaign produced sales that would not have happened otherwise.
From 2025 Launch to August Upfront
Ace introduced RedVest Media to its vendor community at the 2025 Ace Fall Convention in Chicago and formally launched the retail media network shortly afterward. Retail media networks of this kind, in which retailers sell advertising on their own digital properties using customer data, have become a common revenue and marketing tool among large retailers, and RedVest is Ace’s version tailored to a cooperative structure.
The network’s RetailerReach capability allows eligible vendors to reach Ace and Emery Jensen retailers through retailer-facing banners, emails and educational content, giving manufacturers another route to building store-level product awareness and distribution. The summer expansion, announced at the inaugural Upfront event in August, added the social, influencer, weather-triggered and DoorDash formats. The weather capability ties advertising to local conditions such as rainfall or snowfall, so vendors can promote products when conditions create a timely household or project need.
“With RedVest, all of our retailers benefit from an influx of marketing, driving awareness and foot traffic to their stores as a result of vendors investing to message their products.”
— Molly Hjelm, corporate vice president and head of RedVest Media
Unanswered Questions About the Program
The $100 million figure is described as sales “influenced” by the network, and Hardware Retailing does not detail how that influence is calculated or what share represents incremental sales versus purchases that would have occurred anyway; the newly added incrementality measurement is designed to address that question, but no results were reported. The article does not disclose RedVest’s revenue, individual vendor spending, or a breakdown of results by advertising format. Hjelm’s stated goal for the network over the next three years was cut off in the published report, so the specific targets ahead are not known. How many Ace customers reached through DoorDash ultimately become in-store shoppers is also not yet clear.
RedVest’s Roadmap Ahead
Hjelm said RedVest’s expansion will continue to be guided by vendor feedback and by reaching Ace customers where they spend their time. Over the next three years, she indicated Ace has a broader goal for the network, though the specific target was not stated in the report. Vendors can expect continued growth in measurement offerings, including return-on-advertising-spend reporting, brand-new-customer tracking and incrementality measurement for offsite campaigns. The newly added DoorDash and weather-triggered formats will likely be evaluated for their contribution to sales in future reporting.
Key Questions
What is RedVest Media?
It is Ace Hardware’s retail media network, launched in fall 2025, that lets vendors advertise products across Ace’s digital ecosystem — Acehardware.com, email, push, offsite display, video, connected TV, mobile and, since August, social, influencer and DoorDash placements.
Do Ace store owners pay to participate in RedVest?
No. The program is funded by participating vendors. According to Ace, individual retailers have no campaign to build or advertising buy to manage; the benefit comes when vendor-funded marketing drives awareness and traffic to local stores.
How does Ace measure whether the advertising works?
Using Ace Rewards loyalty data, RedVest connects ad exposure to subsequent purchases — what the industry calls closed-loop measurement. Vendors can see real-time reporting on sales from exposed customers, return on ad spend, new-to-brand customer share, and incrementality for offsite campaigns.
What was added in the summer 2026 expansion?
Announced at the network’s inaugural Upfront event in August, the additions include social and influencer marketing, weather-triggered programmatic advertising that responds to local rainfall or snowfall, and advertising within Ace’s storefront on DoorDash.
What does the $100 million figure mean?
It represents Ace retail sales that RedVest Media has influenced in its first year, according to Hardware Retailing. The report does not specify how much of that total is incremental — sales that would not have occurred without the advertising.
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