Walmart Connect: Advertising In-Store and Everywhere Else
Walmart is the world’s largest retailer, pulling in over $648 billion in revenue and serving 255 million customers every week. In addition to incredible purchasing power, labor force leverage, and retail influence, it has something else with even greater value – customer data. With Walmart Connect, the company is gradually changing the advertising landscape and hoovering up market share in the growing retail media space.
Here’s what marketers need to know about Walmart’s advertising chops and why a key differentiator, in-store ads, make Walmart ads an excellent alternative to Amazon Ads and Google Ads.
What Is Walmart Connect?
Walmart Connect is a retail media network that allows third-party brands to reach Walmart’s online and in-store shoppers in a variety of ways. Formerly known as Walmart Media Group, Connect combines digital advertising options that look and feel like Google and Amazon Ads, with in-store digital and print advertising.
Types of Walmart Connect Ads: Onsite Options
Like Amazon, Walmart uses three primary sponsored ad formats, called onsite media:
- Sponsored search
- Sponsored products
- Sponsored brands
In listed order, these ads appear in the Walmart site’s search results, beneath the coveted Buy Box, and in recommendation carousels when users land on a collection of product results. In some cases, sponsored ads appear almost identical to organic results, aside from a small “sponsored” label.
Think Inside the Buy Box
The Walmart Buy Box is an incredibly valuable piece of digital real estate. While its appearance varies slightly based on the product page or the number of relevant (paid) results, it’s always near the “Add to Cart” widget on the page. It’s the last chance for competitors to steal a sale, and retailers spend big bucks to park their Peppa Pig’s there.
Walmart’s Display Network
Walmart’s ads business goes beyond search ads. There’s also a display network, dubbed the Walmart DSP. This is a massive display network, similar to Google Ads, that shows related product and brand ads on other domains (“off” Walmart’s site) using customer search history and data. It’s one more way those cool earbuds or that crockpot follow you around after you compare the price on Walmart and another retailer’s site.
Walmart In-store Advertising
Compared to Amazon, Walmart Connect’s biggest advantage is the ability to run in-store ads. With 4,615 stores in the US and approximately 37 million in-store customers each day, Walmart can reach a highly qualified consumer audience for you with in-store advertising. This is an area of Walmart’s media network that its competitors can’t match, which is a big reason Walmart is doubling down with ad placement opportunities.
Today, retailers can run in-store ads across a few platforms:
- TV wall ads – It’s exactly what you think: your video ads running on Walmart’s (in)famously large wall of big-screen TVs.
- Self-checkout ads – Show a quick image and text ad on self-checkout monitors.
- Samples – It’s not just a Costco thing. Walmart Connect allows retailers to add samples and coupons to Walmart order pickups and deliveries. And yes, you can also pay to host in-store demos, complete with little paper cups and a line of shoppers.
- Sponsored events – Host demonstrations and competitions at Walmart locations.
- In-store audio ads – Punctuate Walmart’s in-store playlist with audio ads; pricing is quite similar to podcast advertising.
How Much Does Walmart Connect Cost?
The cost of advertising on Walmart Connect varies by campaign, your targeting criteria, and the ad format. Onsite media related to some product lines are more expensive than others, and most categories vary seasonally, too. There’s no Walmart Connect fee per month, which means all your budget goes straight to results. Oneupweb’s paid media team can help you establish an effective Walmart Connect budget as a part of your paid strategy.
Why Walmart Is Going Big on Retail Media
In Q3 2024, Walmart Connect brought in almost a third of Walmart’s $6.7 billion in operating income. The Connect business grew 26% in the US and roughly 50% internationally in 2024. That’s due in no small part to Walmart’s growing ecommerce footprint, which now accounts for 18% of revenue, up 3 points from 2023.
This advertising growth is far from exclusive to Walmart; retail media networks reached a market value of $4.2 billion in 2022 and are expected to hit $7.3 billion by 2032, a compound annual growth rate of 20% (2023 to 2032). For behemoths like Amazon and Walmart, it’s yet another way to earn low-cost revenue and diversify income streams, not unlike Apple’s massive ads and services revenue.
Another Place to Pay and Slay
Google Ads isn’t the only paid medium that delivers the goods. Walmart Connect, Amazon Ads, and other networks offer competitively priced paid search and display opportunities for ecommerce brand and retailers alike. We can get your brand on the right network, design paid creative, and provide a robust strategy that grows your brand – and your bottom line. Let’s get started; get in touch or call (231) 922-9977 today to learn more.
