How Walmart is thinking about retail media

Walmart, the US retailer, believes that understanding “commerce on consumers’ terms” can assist brands in connecting with shoppers via retail media, an executive told delegates at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022.

Why it matters

Retail media has witnessed a surge in demand as e-commerce usage rises. But the bigger opportunity may ultimately rest in connecting the dots between online habits and the ways that consumer behave in brick-and-mortar stores – and vice versa.

Takeaways

• Kara Rousseau, vp/head of marketing at Walmart Connect, told the Cannes Lions delegates that despite the growth of e-commerce, fully 80% of purchases still happen in-store. (WARC subscribers can read more details here.)
• Walmart’s main digital storefront attracts 150 million weekly visits, giving it a major online audience that is attractive to third-party advertisers.
• Its internal research suggested that shoppers use its app to research and compare products before, during, and after store visits, creating a valuable source of conversion, but also of product discovery.
• The goal for Walmart is to deliver “commerce on consumers’ terms” and provide ad solutions that cover both digital solutions and the networks of screens available in its brick-and-mortar stores across the US.
• In helping advertisers close the loop on how their messages impact sales, Walmart is seeking to provide insights that cover the online and physical worlds alike.

Final thought

Providing omnichannel insights could help retailers move beyond their traditional share of trade spending and into the realm of brand-building budgets. Retail media could even blur the lines between these two previously distinct activities.