Blain’s Farm & Fleet, a midwestern staple in the farm and home retail space, is redefining what it means to be a tech-savvy retailer. Known for selling everything from livestock feed to power tools, the company is making a bold move into the digital advertising realm by launching an AI-powered retail media network.
In partnership with Swiftly, Farm & Fleet’s new initiative allows brand advertisers to precisely target customers through AI-enhanced ad placements, leveraging both in-store and digital behavioral data.
This is a significant signal that AI is no longer reserved for the Amazons and Walmarts of the world. Mid-sized, category-specific retailers—many with strong regional identities—are embracing artificial intelligence to compete in the fast-evolving retail media landscape and to modernize their digital experiences.
The AI Retail Media Movement
Retail media networks, essentially a retailer’s version of Google or Facebook Ads, are quickly becoming a crucial revenue stream. For mid-tier retailers, AI is the linchpin making these networks viable by automating ad placements, targeting, and real-time performance optimization.
In Blain's case, it provides a new level of precision and personalization to advertisers looking to reach rural and suburban consumers—segments often underserved in digital marketing.
Farm & Fleet’s model mirrors strategies pioneered by industry leaders like Amazon, which recently opened up its advertising infrastructure to other retailers via its Retail Ad Service. Meanwhile, grocers like Albertsons have integrated generative AI to accelerate creative production and campaign execution in their retail media platforms, speeding time-to-market by 20%.
Even Giant Eagle, another regional grocery chain, is blending the physical with the digital—linking in-store TVs to its retail media network to serve dynamic, targeted ads in real time.
From Tractors to Text: AI in Product Pages and Discovery
Farm-focused retail may seem like an unlikely place for AI transformation, but it offers a blueprint for how mid-sized retailers in diverse verticals—from furniture to fashion—can scale digital innovation.
In addition to ad targeting, Farm & Fleet is exploring AI for product recommendations and search personalization—areas that have become hotbeds of innovation.
Take ALDI, for example. The budget grocery chain recently rolled out AI-generated product descriptions across its digital storefront, automating the creation of optimized, SEO-friendly content that improves product visibility and conversion.
David’s Bridal is leaning into AI as a way to transform its core business. Once heavily reliant on brick-and-mortar, the company is now building a retail media platform of its own and using generative AI to power its “Aisle to Algorithm” vision.
This includes wedding planning tools and vendor search—turning the brand into a digital hub for the entire event lifecycle.
On the furniture side, Bassett Furniture is confronting declining ecommerce sales by investing in AI to strengthen its online channels. From personalized product suggestions to optimized search and navigation, the company is banking on smarter tech to compete with more agile DTC brands.
Case Studies Across Categories
AI’s appeal is its flexibility—it can be applied to marketing, logistics, and customer experience alike. Here are more examples of mid-tier and niche retailers successfully adopting AI:
- Ulta Beauty: Uses AI-powered recommendation engines and AR-based virtual try-ons to enhance the personalization of both its online and in-store shopping experiences.
- Levi Strauss & Co.: Applies AI to optimize inventory and demand forecasting across global channels, improving operational efficiency.
- Grind Coffee: Participated in a Google AI trial to enhance productivity through tools like automated marketing content creation and sales reporting, without reducing headcount.
- Wesco: A Michigan-based grocery chain using AI-powered Mashgin kiosks for rapid self-checkout—an upgrade that reduces friction and staff dependency.
- Shopify + Vantage Discovery: Shopify acquired this AI-powered search tech to help its retail partners deliver more relevant, personalized product search experiences.
- EDITED: Offers a SaaS platform that mid-tier retailers use to track pricing trends, product assortment, and market gaps via AI—driving more strategic merchandising decisions.
A New Retail Playbook
As the cost of advanced AI tools falls and partnerships with providers like Swiftly, Instacart, and Microsoft become more accessible, mid-sized retailers are finally getting their seat at the AI table. What was once a technological leap now feels more like a strategic necessity.
Blain’s Farm & Fleet is just the beginning. From tractors to tuxedos, more retailers are proving that you don’t have to be a tech giant to compete like one.
