JDS Investigates
UK Supermarkets MarTech Review
In the highly competitive UK grocery sector, "Retail Media" has become the new frontier for growth. However, the technical foundations such as Consent Management, Server-Side Tagging and First-Party Data Capture vary significantly between the Big Four vs the discounters.
This JDS Investigation audits the digital infrastructure of the UK's leading supermarkets, evaluating how giants like Tesco and Sainsbury's leverage sophisticated stacks (Tealium, sGTM, Adobe etc) compared to the leaner, analytics-focused implementations of Lidl and Aldi. We analyse the intersection of user privacy (Consent Mode) and the data-driven "Nectar" and "Clubcard" ecosystems.
Tag Management Leaders: Tesco and Waitrose lead with robust Server-Side GTM (sGTM) backbones, while Sainsbury's utilises Tealium for complex enterprise data routing.
The Adobe Powerhouse: Aldi and Co-op lean heavily on the Adobe Stack (Launch, Analytics, Target) to drive onsite personalisation and audience capture.
Retail Media Readiness: Tesco and Morrisons show advanced readiness for retail media networks, with tracking specifically implemented to fuel their internal advertising offerings.
Consent Disparity: Compliance is generally high across the sector (OneTrust/Consent Mode), though implementations range from Tesco's bespoke custom triggers to Morrisons' legacy connectivity issues.
Discounters' Strategy: Lidl maintains a unique, lean profile with almost zero third-party marketing tags, focusing purely on high-fidelity first-party analytics.
Feel free to use the dynamic table below:
Tesco
www.tesco.comConsent Management
Strong use of a CMP at the top of the page with reject all ability, which has a fairly custom implementation with Google Consent Mode.
Tag Management
Google Tag Manager (GTM) is the core tag manager of choice for the all of the tracking implementation with a server side backbone.
Site Analytics
Bespoke server side approach to both Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics to measure on-site actions across the different verticals.
Data Management
Bespoke cookie setting after consent alongside a well structured data layer, which is also powering the retail media offering.
Marketing Tags
A wider selection including Meta, Google Ads & Google Floodlights. Though quite a lot of different overlapping Google base tags in place.
Publisher Tags
Publisher tags are in place, but more to extend the retail media offering to make use of the on-site capabilities that Tesco operates.
Sainsbury's
www.sainsburys.co.ukConsent Management
Use of OneTrust as the core CMP but interestingly worded reject all button with the CTA “continue without accepting” alongside consent mode.
Tag Management
Tealium is the core tag manager of choice for the all of the tracking implementation with a server side backbone.
Site Analytics
Core setup is based around Google Analytics with key events / data layer captured through the journey.
Data Management
Some unique 1st party data settings in place behind a Tealium IQ backbone, but fairly standard structure overall.
Marketing Tags
A wider selection including Meta, X, Pinterest, TikTok, TTD, Snapchat, Microsoft, Google Ads & Google Floodlights. But some evidence of duplicate firing after consent.
Publisher Tags
Publisher tags are in place, but more to extend the retail media offering on more the Nectar side of the business.
Asda
www.asda.comConsent Management
Use of OneTrust as the core CMP and quite strict setup with “Reject All” CTA and consent mode.
Tag Management
A mix of Google Tag Manager but also Adobe Launch, to align with some of the Adobe heavy setup on-site alongside some server side tracking.
Site Analytics
Core setup is based around Google Analytics with key events / data layer captured through the journey. Big switch to groceries domain however.
Data Management
Adobe is the critical tool here, for both personalisation and audience capture on-site traffic with some custom tracking in local storage.
Marketing Tags
A wider selection including Meta, Google Ads, Microsoft Ads & Criteo. Though also evidence of CSP issues impacting certain tags.
Publisher Tags
Publisher tags are in place, which is primarily through the Criteo element of the retail media tracking.
Aldi
www.aldi.co.ukConsent Management
Use of OneTrust as the core CMP and quite strict setup with “Reject All” CTA and consent mode.
Tag Management
Adobe Launch is the tag manager of choice, for both analytics and marketing tags.
Site Analytics
A big Adobe Analytics user with plenty of eVars setup across the web journey and funnel.
Data Management
Heavy users of the Adobe stack, including Target & Audience Manager to go alongside Launch / Analytics.
Marketing Tags
Focus towards Google Ads, Meta, X and Microsoft Ads tags on the site. Though no server side approach.
Publisher Tags
Doesn’t seem to be any evidence of any publisher tracking, with no complete retail media offering yet.
Morrisons
groceries.morrisons.comConsent Management
Use of OneTrust as the core CMP and quite strict setup with “Reject All” CTA and consent mode. But initial accept does not work.
Tag Management
Google Tag Manager (GTM) is the core tag manager of choice for the all of the tracking implementation with a server side backbone.
Site Analytics
Core setup is based around Google Analytics with key events / data layer captured through the journey.
Data Management
Some AWS backend in place to collect different signals but limited overall with emphasis on Google.
Marketing Tags
The likes of Meta, X, Snapchat, TikTok, CM360 with unique Blis / Tradedoubler. Microsoft doesn’t work.
Publisher Tags
Tracking is in place to make use of their MMG retail media network across the core ecommerce pages.
Lidl
www.lidl.co.ukConsent Management
Use of OneTrust as the core CMP and quite strict setup with “Reject” CTA and consent mode.
Tag Management
A very custom implementation of Google Tag Manager (GTM) hosted on the Lidl first party domain.
Site Analytics
A dual approach of Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity, which are the core tags on site.
Data Management
As strong as it can be, with a “LidlID” and custom cookies like utm_source captured in the data layer.
Marketing Tags
Pretty much no marketing tags here, with the focus purely on Analytics tracking.
Publisher Tags
Website is limited here, likely from the lack of ability to buy online in the UK through the site.
Co-op
www.coop.co.ukConsent Management
Use of OneTrust as the core CMP and quite strict setup with “Reject Cookies” CTA and consent mode.
Tag Management
A mix of Google Tag Manager but also Adobe Launch, to align with some of the Adobe heavy setup on-site alongside some server side tracking.
Site Analytics
Core setup is based around Google Analytics with key events / data layer captured through the journey.
Data Management
Adobe is the critical tool here, for both personalisation and audience capture on-site traffic with some custom tracking in local storage.
Marketing Tags
Primarily focused towards Google Ads, CM360 & Meta on shop page though some duplicate firing. Microsoft has issues.
Publisher Tags
Tracking in place to fuel their retail media network, primarily with some LiveRamp enrichment.
Waitrose & Partners
www.waitrose.comConsent Management
Strong use of a CMP at the top of the page with reject all ability, which has a fairly custom implementation with Google Consent Mode.
Tag Management
Google Tag Manager (GTM) is the core tag manager of choice for the all of the tracking implementation with a server side backbone.
Site Analytics
Core setup is based around Google Analytics with key events / data layer captured through the journey. Heap Analytics / Microsoft Clarity also exists.
Data Management
Google backbone but plenty of 1st party server tracking. A fairly strong data layer also exists to empower data management.
Marketing Tags
A wider selection including Meta, X, Pinterest, TikTok, Microsoft, Google Ads & Google Floodlights. Dotomi also exists with multiple cookie syncs.
Publisher Tags
Publisher tags are in place, in a specific role for Epsilon to take 1st party data for use in a retail media network for JLP.