Sam’s Club Makes Ad Campaigns Smarter, More Effective

Retailer’s platform helps advertisers deliver personalized messages

2/28/2023

Sam's Club has adopted technology that helps its advertisers provide targeted and personalized ads to members.

With the help of its Sam’s Club Member Access Platform (MAP), the warehouse retailer is bringing real-time, intelligently retargeted display advertising to its advertisers. The new intelligent retargeting functionality can help them deliver personalized ads in real time to members who have expressed interest in a product but haven’t yet made a purchase.

According to Sam’s Club, the MAP feature leverages first-party member data, advertiser data and AI-powered, real-time behavioral insights from its stores. The technology is part of a partnership with The Trade Desk and LiveRamp (RAMP) and ultimately helps advertisers better optimize their retargeting efforts.

“We’re obsessed with helping our members. We’ve all had the experience of seeing ads for items we have already purchased,” said Austin Leonard, head of sales for Sam’s Club MAP. “Our solution allows us to avoid that irritation, creating a better member experience and greater efficiencies for brands.”

Continued Leonard: “Advertisers are now able to target based on what we know members are actually in [the] market for, right now. We can then stop serving these members ads once they complete their purchase at any Sam’s Club or on any device. This is a unique solution brand partners have been waiting for and an additive experience for our members.”

Advertisers can glean real-time retargeting for a variety of scenarios, including:

A member has browsed a specific item online, or placed an item in their cart, but did not complete the purchase.
A member visited a specific landing page, brand page or shelf page on the website, but did not make a purchase.
A member placed an order online to be picked up in club but still plans to shop the club while they’re there – like many members do. MAP’s real-time retargeting allows advertisers with complementary products to deliver relevant ads between order placement and club check out effectively allowing advertisers to "Win the Second Cart."

Many CPG advertisers are already lining up to use the new functionality.

"We’ve been waiting a long time to be able to retarget using the real-time data that Sam’s Club has,” said Mic Zavarella, VP of marketing at Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo. “This allows us to automate targeting, personalize messaging and create sophisticated media workflows that maximize the efficiency of our campaigns."

Meanwhile, Sam’s Club is making big growth plans for the next several years, including opening 30 locations and modernizing its supply chain through new distribution and fulfillment centers with cutting-edge automation. The first new store is slated to open in Florida in 2024, while the latest fulfillment center is planned for the third quarter in Georgia.

Sam’s Club, a division of Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart Inc., operates nearly 600 clubs in the United States and Puerto Rico. Each week, approximately 230 million customers and members visit Walmart’s more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites under 46 banners in 24 countries, with approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Sam’s Club is No. 8.