• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 26, 2025

Advertising has become a major focus for DoorDash as it finds ways for brands it works with to reach consumers through sponsored ads and retail media.

DoorDash, a local commerce platform, and Topsort, an AI-based retail media company, have partnered to build a retail media ad exchange.

Toby Espinosa, vice president of ads at DoorDash, believes the partnership with Topsort is a natural extension of its product suite, designed to help advertisers optimize campaigns, allocate budgets effectively, and achieve meaningful business outcomes. 

The ad exchange provides advertisers with the opportunity to provide proprietary retail-media inventory programmatically through an AI-driven infrastructure intended to help advertisers scale their retail media investment

The companies said this solution solves legacy retail-media hurdles such as fragmented ad spend, campaign misalignment, inconsistent product catalogs, and unreliable data reporting.

It should solve challenges through real-time insights intended to reduce fragmented ad management and increase reach.

The idea is to improve performance while eliminating complexities of fragmented ad management systems with a focus on efficiency, automation, and real-time data insights.

Advertisers can leverage an integrated network of relevant retailer inventory to increase efficiency and fill rate while reducing roadblocks.

DoorDash also introduced Banner as a new ad format on the platform and new bidding and reporting capabilities for Sponsored Products on DoubleDash. The idea is to drive higher brand impressions in the app and encourage add-on purchases.

The categories available for Banner on DoubleDash are linked to restaurant orders, such as Drinks, Alcohol, Sweets, Snacks, and Pantry, with more expected later this year.

The company said it has more than 95% new-to-brand impressions on Banner on DoubleDash, giving advertisers a way to reach new consumers and build habits.

Then there are Sponsored Products on DoubleDash intended to encourage consumers to discover and add new items while they are searching or browsing post-checkout.

With the ability to independently target and monitor ad performance on DoubleDash, advertisers can tailor campaigns. The company said internal data shows Sponsored Products on DoubleDash have an 18% higher click-to-conversion rate than non-DoubleDash placements.

Pepsi and Mondelez are just a few partners that have activated Sponsored Products on DoubleDash and seen sales lift for their brands.