Soundbites: Tips on shoppable media and meeting demand for full-funnel campaigns

Ryan Mayward, senior vice president of retail media sales at Walmart Connect, shared three ways retail media is evolving and how Walmart is keeping up on our Reimaging Retail podcast.

1. Shoppable media shows promise

“Brands are very excited about shoppable video in a streaming TV environment,” Mayward said. “I think there's a lot of logistical components to work through. But there’s a lot of promise there.”

In pilots, Walmart has seen shoppable video ads do well, particularly on social.

“Even though we're asking customers to check out in a different browser page or jump to a different app, we're still seeing great performance and reaching customers in the social environment.”

Looking ahead, Walmart hopes to integrate the checkout experience into shoppable ads on social to make it a more seamless customer experience.

• This could also enable users to make more impulse purchases, said our analyst Sarah Marzano.
• “It’s really well geared toward a more spontaneous purchase,” she said. “You see it, you want it, you're going to do it, but you've got maybe a shorter attention span, so if there's any friction, it's really easy for that to get disrupted.”

2. Advertisers are looking for more full-funnel campaigns

Retail media is quickly diversifying beyond on-site and moving into off-site, mid- and upper-funnel formats as advertisers seek to build awareness and consideration.

To meet this demand, Walmart Connect is strengthening the brand-building capabilities of its owned channels, explained Mayward.

• Last year, Walmart revamped its website and mobile app with larger images, videos, and a social-media inspired scroll format to boost discovery among consumers.
• The retailer is also experimenting with in-store retail media elements like audio and in-person demos.

Outside of the retail environment, Walmart is partnering with social and streaming platforms to expand advertisers’ reach.

“We’re finding our customers on the open web, on streaming TV, on social platforms, and engaging them there, showing them brand messages, and encouraging them to come back to Walmart to make purchases,” said Mayward.

3. Brands are breaking down internal silos

“When we were talking about retail media, say a dozen years ago, we were talking to people in sales and shopper marketing roles inside the brands,” said Mayward.

While sales and shopper marketing remain key participants in retail media discussions, they are now joined by other teams, including marketing, social, and brand.

“They're all coming together to advance a common agenda, which is to make their investments work harder and deliver more sales,” he said.

This was originally featured in the Retail Media Weekly newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.