Walmart is expanding their self-service Marketplace platform

Walmart Connect, the retailer’s marketplace media platform, is expanding and making it easier for advertisers and brands to promote their products by introducing self-service.

Introducing Search Brand Amplifier. Search Brand Amplifier gives products listed in the Walmart marketplace higher visibility by boosting advertised products to the top of search results. Walmart says this benefits newer and smaller brands that haven’t achieved high organic listings within the Walmart platform.

Search Brand Amplifier was previously limited to only managed sellers and a limited number of suppliers, but now it’s widely available to Marketplace brand owners that are registered with Walmart’s Brand Portal.

Sellers can access the Search Brand Amplifier through Walmart Platform Partners.

Enter self-serve. Eligible Marketplace sellers will be able to launch and manage their own ad campaigns through the Walmart Ad Center. Once a three-day enrollment period, users can now complete it in a matter of minutes. Additionally, existing Marketplace sellers will be onboarded automatically.

Walmart is also updating the look of the Ad Center and easier instructions to “reduce the guesswork” for launching and optimizing campaigns.

The platform. Walmart offers sellers two different ad choices. Display and Sponsored Products.

• Display. Display ads are featured both on the Walmart site and off, across the website and social channels
• Sponsored products. These are featured on the Walmart website in visible placements as users browse

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Global expansion. Walmart has also pushed to expand its Marketplace internationally. They’re now available in Canada, the UK, and India. They’ll also add additional API partners to focus on countries with more sellers such as China.

Walmart is America’s largest omnichannel retailer claiming to serve 90% of US households and their global ad business surpassed $2 billion in revenue in 2021. Their retail focus has always been centered around low prices, which could prove beneficial this holiday season with inflation and an uncertain economy.

Additional resources. If you’re new to the Walmart Ad center, they have resources available to help sellers optimize their search campaigns here. You can also read the announcement from their blog here.

The Walmart Ad Center also integrates with several PPC management tools. If you’re an advertiser or brand that manages several different campaigns or product feeds in the Walmart Ad Center, these tools can help streamline and automate various aspects including keywords, bids, reporting and analysis.

Interesting fact. Walmart announced a partnership with Paramount Global last month to offer its Walmart+ members the streaming service for free as part of their benefits. The Paramount+ Essential Plan will give Walmart+ members access to Paramount+’s catalog of content, from movies to live sports.

There isn’t any speculation yet as to what the partnership means long-term, but it could be Walmart’s first introduction to planning CTV ads.

Why we care. On one hand, the ability for any seller to set up an ad account and sell through Walmart is a great tool, especially ahead of the holiday season. On the other, it’ll be interesting to see how the platform differentiates from Amazon, what its market share is, and how many advertisers are on one or both platforms. Additionally, giving sellers in China access to the platform could cause issues with authenticity and customer support.

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