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Ace Hardware says its one-year-old RedVest Media network has influenced more than $100 million in retail sales, with more than 100 vendors participating. The company has added social, influencer, weather-triggered and DoorDash advertising, while expanding sales measurement; the source does not specify the calculation period or method behind the $100 million figure.
Ace Hardware says its RedVest Media network has influenced more than $100 million in Ace retail sales in the year since launch, as the vendor-funded program adds advertising options and sales measurement tools. More than 100 vendors have joined, according to Molly Hjelm, Ace’s corporate vice president and head of RedVest Media.
RedVest launched in 2025 after Ace introduced the program to vendors at its Fall Convention in Chicago. The network lets participating brands promote products through Acehardware.com, email and push messages, as well as offsite display, video, connected TV and mobile advertising. Ace says its Ace Rewards data can link ad exposure with later purchases.
Vendors fund the campaigns. Individual Ace retailers do not have to create RedVest campaigns or manage advertising buys, according to the source report. Ace says the intended store-level benefit is that vendor marketing can raise awareness of products sold through Ace and help direct resulting interest toward locally owned stores.
Following vendor feedback, Ace added social and influencer marketing, weather-triggered advertising and placements in Ace’s DoorDash storefront. Another offering, RetailerReach, lets eligible vendors send retailer-facing banners, emails and educational content to Ace and Emery Jensen retailers. The company has also added tools for vendors to examine return on advertising spend, total sales impact, new-to-brand customers and the performance of products, placements and creative.
How RedVest Connects Brands and Stores
RedVest gives vendors a centralized route to reach customers across Ace’s cooperative, whose stores are independently owned. Hjelm described that scale as a challenge for brands seeking to work across the network. The program combines customer-facing advertising with retailer-facing communications, giving vendors ways to promote products to shoppers and build awareness among retailers.
For store owners, Ace presents the network as a source of vendor-funded marketing without requiring each store to buy or run campaigns. Whether that activity produces additional local sales depends on campaign performance. Ace’s expanded measurement tools, including incrementality analysis for offsite advertising, are intended to help distinguish sales associated with ads from sales that may have happened anyway.
A Cooperative-Wide Advertising Network
Ace introduced RedVest to its vendor community at the 2025 Ace Fall Convention in Chicago and formally launched it days later. The one-year update followed the 2026 Fall Convention in Orlando and an August Upfront event where the company announced new capabilities.
The network addresses the challenge of coordinating brand promotion across a large group of independent retailers. It uses Ace’s digital channels and loyalty program data to let participating vendors reach Ace customers at scale and assess purchases after advertising exposure. Weather-triggered ads can align promotions with local conditions, while DoorDash placements reach people shopping Ace products through the delivery platform.
“Our Ace Rewards loyalty program is at the heart of our ability to connect the dots between advertising exposure and purchase.”
— Molly Hjelm, Ace Hardware corporate vice president and head of RedVest Media
What the Sales Figure Measures
The source report does not specify the period covered by the more than $100 million in influenced sales, the calculation method, or how much of that total represents incremental sales caused by advertising. The figure is attributed to Ace’s account of RedVest’s performance. The report also does not give campaign-level results or a breakdown by advertising channel, vendor or retailer.
It is also unclear how many of the more than 100 participating vendors use each new capability, and whether DoorDash or weather-triggered campaigns have produced measurable sales changes. Ace describes incrementality measurement as a way to assess additional sales, but the report provides no results from that analysis.
RedVest’s Three-Year Growth Goal
Hjelm said the network’s expansion will continue to respond to vendor feedback and follow where Ace customers spend their time. She identified a three-year goal for RedVest, but the supplied report ends before stating what that goal is. Ace has not provided a more detailed timetable or targets for future launches in the source material.
The next evidence of the program’s reach will depend on further updates from Ace, including clearer reporting on how it calculates influenced sales and what its newer advertising formats contribute. For now, the company has reported participation and expansion, but the source does not provide independent performance data.
Key Questions
What is Ace Hardware’s RedVest Media?
RedVest Media is a vendor-funded advertising network that promotes products sold through Ace using the company’s digital channels and offsite advertising. It also offers retailer-facing communications through RetailerReach.
How much sales has RedVest Media influenced?
Ace says the network has influenced more than $100 million in retail sales in its first year. The source report does not specify the calculation method, measurement period or share of sales that were incremental.
Do Ace retailers have to manage RedVest campaigns?
No. According to the source report, vendors fund the campaigns, and individual retailers do not have to build campaigns or manage advertising buys. Ace says vendor marketing can benefit stores by raising awareness of products available through the cooperative.
What new advertising options did Ace add?
Ace added social and influencer marketing, weather-triggered programmatic ads and advertising in Ace’s DoorDash storefront. The report does not give performance results for these additions.
How does RedVest measure campaign results?
Ace says its Ace Rewards data can connect exposure to advertising with later purchases. Vendor reporting includes sales and return-on-advertising-spend measures, and RedVest has added incrementality measurement for offsite ads to assess whether campaigns generated sales that might not otherwise have occurred.
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