According to Walmart Connect, formerly Walmart Media Group, 90% of Americans shop at Walmart. Whether shopping in-store or online, advertising should be a fundamental part of a brand’s Walmart.com strategy. In fact, 62% of shoppers state that their ad experience online or on the Walmart app influence their in-store purchase decisions. This reinforces the need to use a holistic approach to the channel and invest in brand awareness through advertising. Continue reading to learn more about advertising on Walmart and how your brand can succeed.
As of this writing, there are several ad types available through Walmart’s self-serve option.
There are best practices and functions that apply to most online marketplaces. But, on Walmart.com, there are several advertising nuances to consider. For example, daily campaign budgets must be at least $100. This differs from channels like Amazon because Walmart operates as a first-price auction.
With the above in mind, it’s important to understand Walmart’s bidding structure. It’s much different than Amazon, a second bid auction. This means on Walmart, the winning bid is reflected as the max bid. On Amazon, the winning bid is a penny more than the second-highest bid.
When measuring ad-attributed sales on Walmart, brands need to pay close attention to the attribution window. There are two options including three day and 30-day windows. Overlooking this detail could result in dramatically different data. However, MPS strategists have observed that most ad attributed sales take place within the three-day window.
Like the attribution window, reporting performance on Walmart could take some getting used to for brands more well-versed in Amazon. But Walmart Advertising has valuable metrics that can’t be found on Amazon—at least not yet. For example, the platform report offers insight into performance across the Walmart app, desktop shopping, and mobile shopping. In addition, the Brand Performance Report and Category Performance Report are extremely valuable to vendors.
The above covers just a fraction of what there is to learn about advertising on Walmart. To take a deeper dive into this subject and for more information, please download the guides linked below. Each cover vital information brands need to successfully get started, as well as granular details regarding ad-types, manual vs. automatic campaigns, tips on how to win placements, and more.
If you could use the support of a strategic partner, schedule a free consultation. And, as always, we’re here to answer any questions about your marketplace strategy.