“Attention Walmart shoppers.”… You may start to hear that phrase a lot more when visiting your local Walmart.. or at least digital variations. The retail giant has stepped up its efforts to advertise its own products – and that of third-parties – using high-traffic ad inventory throughout its stores.
This advertising category, known as retail media, has been picking up over the past decade. Benefits include retail revenue diversification, as well as ad performance and efficacy. The latter flows from retail media’s proximity to the point of sale. It’s a high-intent environment that’s situated at the last mile.
In fact, according to Insider Intelligence, retailers’ in-store audiences are 84 percent larger than their digital audiences. And that’s amplified for Walmart, given 200 million monthly shoppers. This scale means that it won’t just benefit from retail media, but could buoy the $40 billion category altogether.
Revenue Center
So what are we talking about here? Walmart has a few initiatives to boost its retail media – erstwhile consisting of basic retail signage and P.A. audio. For one, it will scale up in-store live product demos – sort of like Costco free samples – piloted in 120 stores but growing to 1,000 by the end of the year.
Walmart will also ratchet up available inventory and ad sales for spots on its audio network that’s piped through its stores. Known as Walmart Radio, this is where the “attention Walmart shoppers” messaging has traditionally resided. Now for the first time, it will be open for third-party ad spots.
The above measures will join some of the existing ad inventory throughout Walmart stores, which itself will expand. These include digital displays often seen on aisle endcaps and near check-out aisles. These were traditionally meant to boost conversions and basket sizes, but can now also be a revenue center.
Beyond any of these individual ad formats on their own, Walmart’s latest retail media push will unify them. They’ll be offered in bundles with a “whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” messaging, including incentivized bundles. In other words, Walmart is adopting a media company playbook.
Vibenomics and Placer.AI Accelerate the Rise of Retail Media
Untapped Inventory
Speaking of the media playbook, all the above comes just a week after we reported that retail media network Vibenomics has partnered with Placer.ai. The latter’s location intelligence will empower the former’s ability to optimize ad placement and measure the impact of its retail media platform.
As deals like this continue to form – and as retail giants like Walmart elevate their retail media networks – the category overall could inflect. It’s currently under-monetized considering the inherent benefits of retail media, not to mention the collective untapped inventory available across the retail landscape.
Not only is this inventory high-intent and last-mile as noted, but retailers like Walmart are uniquely positioned to deliver it. That positioning flows from retailers’ existing relationships with consumer brands. They can do things like bundle media plans for the brands and products they carry on their shelves.
That not only engenders strategic advantages like revenue diversification, but could also boost retail revenue from an ARPA standpoint. But more than anything, retailers like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, et. al., can offer advertisers the thing that they want most: massive reach among high-intent shoppers.
