Nielsen Launches Brandbank with Walmart Integration

To further support the upward trend in consumers researching and buying online, Nielsen on Wednesday launched Brandbank, a provider of digital product content for e-commerce, into the U.S. CPG and retail market with immediate integration into Walmart’s systems as an approved content service provider. 

Already operating in Europe and Asia, Brandbank, a Nielsen-owned company since 2014, works with more than 200 major retailers and 7,000 suppliers globally. 

As a member of Walmart’s Content Service Provider ecosystem, Brandbank will supply rich content to help Walmart implement its omnichannel product content strategy, including professional images and product data to reflect all products that are sold within their traditional brick and mortar stores. 

"Obtaining high-quality product content is one of our highest priorities at Walmart as our customers are looking for more product information wherever they shop - in-store, online or on their mobile devices,” said Ram Rampalli, global head of content acquisition for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “As we seek to build the world's largest product catalog by scaling from millions to tens of millions of products, we are partnering with a number of partners in this space."

Fundamental need for rich content

Rob Tarrant, CEO of Brandbank, added, “Our belief is that the management of content is a fundamental need for multichannel businesses as e-commerce becomes a mainstream revenue engine. We handle the entire process of creating or capturing, managing and syndicating CPG product content.” 

Imagery in particular is crucial to successful online sales, because consumers are far less likely to purchase products they can’t seem Josh Goldman, Nielsen’s SVP of digital retail practice, told PG during this week’s annual Consumer 360 Conference in Las Vegas. “If you’re selling online or in mobile retailing, the only information is what you see on the site. If you don’t have that, you can’t sell,” Goldman said.

Brandbank offers content that’s managed, sustainable and brand approved, Goldman said. In particular, he added, information such as ingredient and allergen information needs to be accurate and easily accessed for folks shopping online, usually as a fast pace: “People have less time to see what they need is the right thing.”