Walmart integrates Walmart Connect with automation platform
CPG brands participating in Walmart’s retail media network have a new artificial intelligence (AI) option for automating and optimizing ad management.
Walmart is partnering with e-commerce management platform CommerceIQ to offers automated management of sponsored product and sponsored brand amplifier advertising for CPG brands that target its customers via Walmart Connect.
Walmart Connect is the closed-loop media business for Walmart. It offers advertisers the ability to serve personalized, time- and context-specific ads across customer touchpoints including media placements on in-store TV walls and self-checkout screens, Walmart digital properties, mobile devices, and corporate events.
[Read more: Walmart has big plans for its Walmart Connect ad platform]
The new CommerceIQ Retail Media Management for Walmart Connect offering will provide Walmart advertisers solutions including:
- Retail-aware and share of voice (SOV) optimized algorithms that can drive incremental sales and ROI beyond return on advertising spend (ROAS).
- Integrated full-funnel optimization to activate shoppers across their purchase journey by optimizing sponsored product, sponsored brand amplifier, and onsite and offsite display advertising.
- A strategy builder to drive automated actions based on business objectives such as awareness, new product launch, media efficiency, and conversion.
- Self-service reporting enables brands to build a custom report within seconds.
- Machine-learning-led automations that operate in real-time and at scale
- Flexible consumption models including bring-your-own-agency, managed services, or self-service software
In a previous corporate blog post, Rich Lehrfeld, senior VP and GM, Walmart Connect, outlined several important steps the retailer plans to take with the platform this year:
Improve and innovate new ways for suppliers and sellers to connect with customers throughout the shopper journey.
- This includes offering expanded touchpoints to reach customers wherever they are with new ad formats, like connected TV (CTV) and video, as well as omnichannel experiences – such as optimizing how brands can run promotions via self-checkout screens, TV walls, in-store events, and sampling.
- By the end of 2022, Walmart plans to be moving toward offering new premium advertising formats on its e-commerce site, including pilots of new onsite ad units and video.
- All of these offerings will be based on Walmart’s proprietary shopper data.
Enable growth for suppliers and sellers of all sizes via automation.
- Walmart recently rolled out Display Self-Serve to its first phase of advertisers. The solution enables advertisers to produce creative content using the assets they want, and automatically generate the right sizes and specifications for their campaigns.
- Walmart is expanding its platform partner program that helps suppliers and sellers find the right expert to scale, automate, and optimize their search campaigns.
Exceed advertiser performance goals.
- One of Walmart’s biggest areas of focus this year is improving targeting and search capabilities, including moving to second-price auction.
- The company will continue scaling its “One Walmart” approach, which offers advertisers integrated planning across merchandising, site operations, marketing, and Walmart Connect.
- Walmart is expanding measurement capabilities for all of its promotional offerings, including in-store placements.
“Walmart is a leader and true innovator in omnichannel and retail e-commerce. It is an honor to be selected as a Walmart platform partner,” said Guru Hariharan, CEO of CommerceIQ. “Advertisers love the reach of Walmart Connect’s retail media platform and have driven its explosive growth. We’re thrilled that this partnership will help brands crush their ad performance goals and broader business objectives of driving profitable market share growth on Walmart.”