Walmart expands retail media access to smaller and non-endemic advertisers

Walmart is looking to expand its retail media business by broadening access for smaller marketers, international suppliers and “non-endemic” marketers that don’t sell through its stores, such as automotive, financial and travel brands. Among several updates and programs announced today, Walmart Connect will also allow search ads against brand terms, including against competitor brands, a practice known as “conquesting.” Walmart also will open more access to measuring in-store sales results from online advertising and allow management of in-store campaigns via the self-service Walmart Ad Center platform, starting with buys on the retailer’s TV wall in electronics departments. Ad Age A-List and Creativity Gala Buy your ticket to the in-person event Click here And Walmart is expanding recent pilots in shoppable advertising with Roku and TikTok to be open broadly for advertisers. It all aims to help more marketers use Walmart Connect more fully, said Rich Lehrfeld, senior VP and general manager of Walmart Connect. Of course, that also will build revenue for what’s already a fast-growing business that grew 28% to $3.4 billion last year. Along with more revenue for Walmart, the moves add up to more competition from bidders, and likely higher costs, for consumer packaged goods makers and other big brand marketers who sell through Walmart Connect, said a person familiar with the platform. This person said the outreach to smaller, international and third-party marketplace sellers also could help Walmart defend against the entry of China’s Temu into the U.S. market. Read about Temu’s Super Bowl 2024 ad strategy Under changes announced today, display ads on Walmart web and mobile properties will become available through the programmatic Walmart Ads marketplace to brands of all sizes, including emerging brands and third-party sellers through Walmart’s online marketplace. Walmart is also launching new self-service support tools for suppliers based overseas, and, in a move that could help more smaller advertisers develop stronger brand pages, is rolling out machine-learning capabilities for creative development and optimization. Walmart doesn’t have a third-party marketplace nearly as large as Amazon’s, and part of trying to build that market is getting more of those sellers, who mainly use only search, to buy display and other brand advertising, said Himanshu Jain, senior VP and head of product at consultancy CommerceIQ. Lehrfeld in his blog noted a 63% increase in year-over-year search spending by marketplace sellers driven by prior self-service tools designed largely for them. Retail’s data advantage Walmart will also now allow “non-endemic” marketers that offer complementary products to buy offsite media, i.e. in the open web or connected TV, based on Walmart data, starting with automotive, entertainment, financial services, quick-service restaurants, and travel. More: Home Depot hosts upfront-style retail media pitch While much of the growth for Walmart and other retail media has come from shifting promotion or ad dollars from other media used by its suppliers, non-endemic advertisers are an important aspect of growth. Amazon has led the way in getting more non-endemic brands to spend through its platforms, Jain said, adding that the first-party data that retailers can offer gives them a clear edge on digital heavyweights Google and Meta. Walmart can provide “actual behavioral data, did somebody buy something rather than just express an interest,” Jain said. “That data is way richer.” Lehrfeld pointed to the potential of automotive advertisers to target ads based on purchase behavior at Walmart repair centers. Jain pointed to the potential for hotel, ski resort or airline brands to target ads to people who’ve just bought children’s skiing gear. “We’re at the beginning stages of the testing, but we’re seeing great results,” Lehrfeld said. “People are looking for great data signals, and retail media networks have that. We’re one of the largest auto care centers in the country. We see people buying luggage, which is a pretty strong signal for travel. It’s aggregated information [for advertisers] but the signal is pretty strong.” AI marketing blog How brands are using ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and other tools Read more here

Walmart expands retail media access to smaller and non-endemic advertisers

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