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Learning Hub: Get Started with Walmart Connect

First-mover advantage is real on Walmart’s ad network, Walmart Connect. Right now, Walmart Connect presents a huge opportunity for brands—and, as a Walmart API Partner, we’ve been hard at work compiling all the information you need to get started. 

Walmart Connect is the logical next step for many brands who advertise regularly on Amazon. Expanding your footprint into Walmart Connect will help you reach a dynamic, cost-efficient audience that many of your competitors have yet to leverage. 

According to Comscore, 13% of the people who visited Walmart.com did not visit Amazon.com in the same month. That means they are totally new audiences. 

Plus, Walmart is the largest physical retailer in the U.S., reaching 90+% of American households. Walmart is able to direct tie digital ads to in-store purchases and offer cross-channel metrics like Omnichannel ROAS.

In other words: When you run an ad on Walmart Connect, you’re getting a truly holistic understanding of who your shopper is. You can ensure your ads are targeted to exactly the right audience, at the right time, with the right options.

Wondering how to get started? Scroll through our Walmart Connect resource hub to learn the Walmart Connect terminology, the key differences between Walmart Connect and Amazon Ads, and more. 
Wondering how to get started? Scroll through our Walmart Connect resource hub to learn the Walmart Connect terminology, the key differences between Walmart Connect and Amazon Ads, and more. 

Walmart Connect

Do you speak Walmart Connect?

First, let’s start with a pop quiz. What are the key terms you need to know for Walmart Connect, and how do they compare to the same terms for Amazon? Brush up on your knowledge using the flash cards below.

What do you call Walmart’s overall ad service?
Walmart’s advertising business is called Walmart Connect. 

By contrast, Amazon’s ad business is called Amazon Ads. 
What do you call Walmart’s ad platform?
Brands and agencies manage their ads through the Walmart Ad Center. 

The equivalent on Amazon is the Amazon Ad Console.
How do you identify products on Walmart?
With Walmart, your products are categorized according to their “Product ID.” By contrast, on Amazon, products are categorized by “ASIN.”

These two categorization systems look distinct. For example, your Walmart ID will look like “376188834” and your Amazon ASIN will look like “B098FKXT8L.”
What do you call Walmart’s seller platform?
On Walmart Connect, you see your retail data in Seller Center. 

The Amazon equivalent is called Seller Central.
What do you call Walmart’s fulfillment service?
Walmart offers its own, in-house fulfillment service to sellers, called Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS).

The Amazon equivalent is Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).

What do I need to know about Walmart Connect?

New to Walmart Connect? Here are a few of the key ad formats, features, and advantages you need to know before you get started. Swipe through our cards to learn more.

What advertising options are available in Walmart Connect?
Walmart Connect offers three basic ad types: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Video. Additionally, Walmart Connect has in-store ads and digital Display Ads. These ads appear in searches and on product pages in the Walmart site and app.
Want to get more sophisticated? Consider Walmart DSP. DSP lets you advertise on social media, streaming TV, and more.
What are the placement options for Sponsored search?
Item carousels: Think of the “Products you might also like” section at the bottom of a search page.
Search In-grid: These are the product ads that appear directly in search results.
Buy Box: These ads show up below the “Buy” button on a competitor’s product pages.
My Items In-grid: When Walmart shoppers check their account, they will see ads for previously purchased items.
Stock Up: These ads appear when a customer is checking out. (Available for Walmart 1P Advertisers only)
Can I see in-store sales on Walmart Connect?
Walmart Connect lets you tie digital ads to in-store sales. You can see how many of the people who viewed your ads online later made a purchase in store. From there, calculate powerful, cross-channel metrics like Omnichannel ROAS to fine-tune your understanding of ad performance.

Can I control ads by device type?
Walmart Connect is one of the only major ad platforms that lets you see your ad performance data at the device level.
Walmart Connect offers what it calls “platform multipliers.” You can set these bid multipliers for three device types: desktop, mobile web, and app. Read more about how device type might impact your ad performance here.
Can I turn off ad placements?
On Walmart Connect, you can exclude entire placement types. Turn off Buy Box ads, item carousel ads, or search carousel ads as you see fit.
By contrast, On Amazon, you can use bid modifiers to make it significantly more likely that your ad shows up in a particular location, but you can’t rule out an ad placement entirely in auto campaigns.
Can I use product targeting on Walmart Connect?
On Amazon, you can target your ads based either on keywords or on specific product targets. In Walmart Connect, however, targeting specific products isn’t an option… yet.
For now, you can only target sponsored ads based on keywords.
Can I run in-store ads through Walmart Connect?
If you are a supplier with products available in Walmart stores, the answer is yes. Through Walmart Connect, you can take out in-store ads like:
  • TV Wall ads
  • Self-checkout ads
  • In-store Audio ads
What about off-Walmart ads?
The Walmart DSP is powerful, not least because it gives you unprecedented access to target shoppers on third-party sites.
In addition to targeted offsite display ads via the Walmart DSP, eligible advertisers may access The Trade Desk’s available inventory across audio, video, CTV, mobile, and display.
How can I better manage my Walmart data signals?
Intentwise automatically ties together your organic and ads data into a single view.
In Intentwise, your ROAS and Total ROAS are each available at a glance. Plus, easily analyze your ads across location, device type, and more. Then, adjust your bids directly from our platform using automated rules.

Want to brush up on your knowledge of Walmart Connect?

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April 18, 2023

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Do your ads perform differently on desktop vs. mobile?

White Paper

Download our Walmart Connect white paper

Now is the time to ramp up your spend on Walmart Connect. But where do you start? In this white paper, we’ll outline the best practices for advertising on Walmart Connect, the critical features you need to know, and the differences between Walmart Connect and Amazon Ads.

Download our white paper, and get a leg up on your competitors with a sophisticated Walmart Connect strategy.

Download White Paper