Every year, 90 percent of American households rely on Walmart for a range of products, said Rich Lehrfeld, senior vice president and general manager at Walmart Connect, in a recent blog post. And every week, more than 150 million customers shop with the merchant in-store or online, he added.
"Our mission at Walmart Connect is to help brands and sellers meaningfully connect with these customers on their shopping journey—wherever that occurs—to find the right product or discover a new one," he said
Walmart Connect, the U.S. arm of Walmart’s global advertising business, is focused on the following:
• Meaningful connections in a number of ways. In a brick-and-mortar store, on the app or website, across the internet, or on social media, customers can discover and purchase new products through the merchant's search and native display ads, or through in-store or social experiences.
• Play video. Walmart is continuing to improve and innovate new ways for suppliers and sellers to connect with customers with new ad formats, like CTV and video, as well as omni experiences, such as optimizing how brands can showcase themselves at self-checkout screens, TV Walls, in-store events, and sampling, according to the post. By the end of the year, Walmart will be moving toward new premium advertising experiences on Walmart.com, including testing new onsite ad units and video.
• Unlocking growth through automation. The company is making it faster, easier, and more efficient for brands of any size to launch and manage display campaigns on Walmart.com on their own. It recently rolled out Display Self-Serve to its first phase of advertisers, giving them more speed, flexibility, and control with their display campaigns, according to the post. Walmart is also expanding the Walmart Platform Partner program so suppliers and sellers have more options to find the right expert to scale, automate, and optimize their search campaigns. Its recently launched Walmart Demand Side Platform—an automated system for advertisers to buy offsite inventory in one spot.
• Search and targeting are essential to any omni campaign. The company’s biggest area of focus this year is improving targeting and search capabilities, including moving to second-price auction to deliver more impact to advertisers and better experiences for customers. Walmart will continue to scale its One Walmart approach through integrated planning across merchandising, site operations, marketing, and Walmart Connect, and will expand measurement capabilities for all its offerings, including in-store placements to drive accountable results and a stronger end-to-end offering.
Related: Instacart Launches Platform to Support Retailers; Report: Omnichannel Shoppers Spend More.