Walmart Connect Gains New Solution Partners
Walmart Connect, the retailer’s closed-loop media business, has revealed several new solution partners in the wake of joining forces with CommerceIQ, an e-commerce platform that provides artificial intelligence-driven e-commerce channel optimization across the supply chain, marketing and sales. Its other partners are Intentwise, an ad optimization software-as-a-service platform that offers recommendations, automation and analytics; Perpetua, an e-commerce ad platform providing optimization and intelligence software; Quartile; an e-commerce cross-channel ad platform for activating and optimizing digital advertising; and Sellozo, an e-commerce ad optimization and intelligence software platform.
“One of Walmart Connect’s core priorities is to unlock growth for suppliers and sellers of all sizes through self-service,” explained Diana Finster, head of agency and tech partnerships at Walmart Connect, in a blog post. “Partnerships are a key lever to deliver more options to our advertisers. That’s why we’re evolving our partnership program to create a robust, diverse ecosystem that will help to expand advertiser support, increase services and deliver access anywhere advertisers need to have it.”
Through such partnerships, Walmart Connect strives “to help advertisers make every media moment a retail moment, by connecting with customers in a meaningful way at any point in their shopping journey.”
The five new application programming interface (API) partners bring Walmart Connect’s current total to 14. According to Finster, “API partners in particular are an important demand lever for sponsored products – especially as Walmart Connect expands self-service to other products and our solutions allow for more than one partner to influence a campaign.” Suppliers and sellers can find the right partner to scale, automate and optimize their search campaigns.
“Soon Walmart advertisers will be able to tap into even more platform partners across ad tech, measurement, e-commerce and shopper marketing to help accelerate their Walmart business goals and make meaningful connections with Walmart customers everywhere they are: online, in-store, in home and on the go,” noted Finster, adding, “Advertisers can use Walmart Connect to reach beyond our owned on-site channels to extend their campaigns through our partners’ networks.”
Additionally, last month Walmart Connect revealed a first-to-market agency partnership with New York-based Omnicom Media Group. At the time, Walmart’s EVP and CRO Seth Dallaire noted: "As marketers prepare for the deprecation of third-party cookies, we're building a platform and ecosystem that leverages the scale of Walmart's first-party data and strong customer relationships to help them deliver strong ROI in an increasingly fragmented environment.”
Advertisers can expect the addition of even more agency partners in the coming months, as well as other collaborators “to expand our holistic ecosystem in meaningful ways that ensure advertisers have everything they need to succeed,” wrote Finster.
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. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company employs 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.
