Walmart targets influencer sales with new platform
Walmart is offering content creators a one-stop portal for earning commissions on its products.
The discount giant is launching a program is called Walmart Creator, designed to make it easy for social media influencers and content creators to monetize shoppable products from the retailer. Creators who sign up will have access to tens of thousands of products and are given the opportunity to earn commissions on sales they refer with no cap.
Users of the platform, which runs on Impact.com partnership marketing technology, can share product links to any social platform or group of their choice, receive product recommendations based on interests and affinities, and collect performance data. Creators can utilize curated product collections and generate affiliate product links for their posts.
In addition, creators can track and view performance in an analytics dashboard to better understand how customers engaged with the products they featured in their posts. They can also apply to be a part of any upcoming brand campaigns.
Walmart is introducing Walmart Creator in beta ahead of the holiday season, and plans to continue to evolve and optimize the platform before launching fully in 2023. The retailer plans to rapidly evolve and iterate the Walmart Creator platform over time to build features and experiences that will ease the process for creators to create and publish content, and customers to shop for Walmart products.
Walmart pursues next-gen sales channels
Social influencer and creator content is the latest emerging sales channel Walmart seeks to enter. The discounter recently debuted in the metaverse by rolling out two new Roblox metaverse experiences offering original interactive content and entertainment.
And Walmart Connect, the closed-loop media business for Walmart, recently began collaborating with platforms including TikTok and Snap. A pilot between TikTok and Walmart Connect will provide advertisers with the opportunity to serve in-feed ads on TikTok, leveraging TikTok's sound-on full-screen video format and Walmart Connect's targeting and measurement.
The collaboration with Snapchat will bring advertisers Snap Ads, Collection Ads and Snap augmented reality (AR) with Walmart Connect geo-based measurement of omnichannel sales lift.
Walmart first engaged with TikTok in the U.S. in December 2018, as a livestream shopping partner. Since then, Walmart has tested numerous shoppable livestream events across multiple platforms, including a livestream shopping event with social/TV influencer Ree Drummond, also known as “Pioneer Woman,” on Facebook.
And in June 2022, Walmart began collaborating with Roku Inc. to enable consumers to buy items with just a click on their Roku remote while streaming television programs. The partnership will combine product discovery with a “seamless” checkout experience, the companies said.
[Read more: Walmart enters shoppable TV via exclusive deal with Roku]
“We know our customers are inspired by the content and stories they see from their favorite influencers in their social feeds every day,” said William White, chief marketing officer, Walmart U.S. “This next step in our strategy will help fuel inspiration for our customers by connecting their favorite creators directly with our brand and the brands they love at Walmart.”
Creators can apply for beta access at WalmartCreator.com.
Headquartered in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart Inc. operates more than 10,500 stores and multiple e-commerce websites under 46 banners in 24 countries.