Mastering Walmart Connect

Paul Sonneveld
I'm your host, Paul Sonneveld, and today we're tackling Walmart Connect. Now, to help us break it all down, I'm joined by Harry Clayman, Senior Partner, Measurement Partnerships at Walmart Connect, Walmart's retail media advertising platform that helps brands connect with customers more often and more meaningful than ever before to accelerate shared growth. As the retail media business of America's largest omnichannel retailer, Walmart Connect offers unparalleled opportunities for their brands to reach their desired customers no matter where, how, and when they shop. 

Let me introduce Harry a little more. So Harry has 12 years of experience in digital advertising across programmatic, social, and retail media. Harry currently works with a measurement partners who build into Walmart's connects reporting API and helps them grow adoption. He resides in Maplewood, New Jersey with his wife, three-year-old daughter, and two dogs. Harry, welcome to the show. It is absolutely great to have you here.

Harry Clayman
Great to be here, Paul. Thank you.

Paul Sonneveld
So before we dive in, can you maybe just share a little bit more about your role at Walmart Connect?

Harry Clayman
Yeah, of course. So I've been at Walmart Connect for a year and a half now, and my focus is on measurement partnerships. So I work with partners who build into our Walmart Connect reporting APIs for read-only access and offer customer self-service solutions. These partners are pulling campaign data on behalf of their customers and surfacing it a variety of different ways. Some partners are doing a pure pass-through, meaning they're surfacing the data directly from our APIs, while others, like MerchantSpring, are combining Walmart Connect data with data from the Marketplace API to offer metrics that combine both data sources.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you. Thank you, Harry. That's very helpful. So for agency professionals who are unfamiliar with Walmart Connect, what would you say, you know, sets Walmart Connect apart? And why is it such a unique opportunities for agencies right now?

Harry Clayman
Yeah, well, Walmart Connect is unique because it brings together scale, rich first-party data, and a growing suite of omnichannel media solutions with closed-loop measurement. For advertisers, that means the ability to not only reach millions of high-intent shoppers, but also directly measure how that media is driving sales, both online and in store. 

Walmart is the number one omnichannel retailer with 4600 stores in the US and approximately 150 million customers served in Walmart stores and online in the US per week. Our scale combined with our closed-loop measurement capabilities, means advertisers can not only reach high-intent shoppers but also directly connect their campaigns to real sales outcomes. That's incredibly powerful, especially in a market that's increasingly focused on performance and accountability. 

For agencies specifically, there's a huge opportunity right now. Walmart Connect provides agencies with the ability to diversify their clients media mix and unlock upsell potential in a strategic way. As more brands seek measurable ROI and seek to close the loop between media spend and conversion, Walmart Connect can help meet this goal while also giving agencies the tools to be more strategic partners. So whether it's through our sponsored search products, on-site display, off-site programmatic, or in-store activations like TV wall and self-checkout, we have a full funnel ecosystem for them to tap into.

Paul Sonneveld
So Walmart Connects Partner Network now also includes measurement partners, right? Harry, can you share how Walmart Connects measurement partners can really help brands and agencies specifically?

Harry Clayman
Yeah, of course. So our unique omni-channel measurement capabilities are giving advertisers the tools they need to understand campaign performance, optimise for their goals, and make data-driven decisions that can help maximise their impact. And we provide our advertisers with even more ways to access our measurement offerings through the Walmart Connect Partner Network. 

So working with a Walmart Connect measurement partner helps give advertisers trusted options for third-party measurement and allows us to meet our customers where they are by enabling their measurement solution of choice. And measurement partners complement our suite of first-party capabilities by integrating our various data sources, providing custom metrics and reporting views and more. 

Our measurement partners are going to fall into several different categories. First, we have visualisation partners such as MerchantSpring here, which offer unified dashboards and custom metrics to provide bespoke reporting and deeper insights. Next, we have data connectors who help streamline the flow of media performance from Walmart Connect to advertisers data lakes or preferred visualisation platforms. This enables easy interpretation and in-depth analyses. 

Brand lift partners offer another option to measure brand awareness for Walmart on-site and off-site media campaigns through post-exposure surveys. And then rest of market partners help measure total market impact by tracking incremental sales, which includes those made outside of Walmart. Next, we have reach and frequency partners who help empower CTV advertisers with insights and key metrics such as audience targeting, effectiveness, and national cross-campaign frequency optimisation. Lastly, attribution and mobile measurement partners provide advertisers with a comprehensive understanding of the impact of your Walmart Connect media. So this includes analysing cross-channel conversions, website interactions, and mobile engagements.

Paul Sonneveld
That is fantastic. And I just wanted to add that, you know, we've been a partner, a measurement partner with Walmart for a couple of years now, actually. And it's been great being able to bring the advertising side alongside the marketplace data and really give our agency customers, as well as some of the larger brands, really that sort of unified reporting, which has been fantastic. 

And I've seen Walmart Connect in particular come a long way on this journey, even in the last couple of years, that's been great. So moving on, Harry, can you tell us a little bit more about the Omni solutions that Walmart Connect offers to really help sellers and agencies reach and really drive impact with Walmart customers?

Harry Clayman
Yeah, so one of our priorities is to connect brands with Walmart customers. And we enable that through our full funnel Omni solutions that help drive awareness, consideration, and conversion, and then deliver measurable results at scale. So let's start with sponsored search advertising. We have different solutions under search. Sponsored products, which help drive conversion, and sponsored brands and sponsored videos that help more upper funnel, driving awareness and consideration. 

Sponsored products help boost individual item visibility by placing products in key locations on Walmart's site and app, increasing the likelihood of customer purchases. Sponsored brands help enhance overall brand visibility by showcasing brands at prominent spots, building recognition and trust among customers, which led to more purchases. In fact, in our fiscal 2025, 46% of all orders generated through sponsored brands came from new-to-brand customers. 

Lastly, sponsored videos help engage customers with dynamic content, highlighting product features and benefits, and make the shopping experience more informative and compelling. We also recommend using on-site display ads to complement your search tactics. On-site display ads are highly visual ads that can help capture browsing customers. Not every customer who's in the market for your brands are actively searching for your products.

An on-site display can help find these people and drive more sales. Our data shows us that customers exposed to a combination of sponsored search and sponsored display can be more valuable than just sponsored search alone. For example, when sponsored search and Walmart on-site display are used together, customers are on average up to three times more likely to buy brand items and spend on average up to 40% more on those brand items. 

When it comes to offsite, our solutions are designed to reach customers during moments of inspiration and discovery. For example, the Walmart DSP, which was created in partnership with the Trade Desk, drives brand and product awareness and can help brands connect with Walmart customers away from Walmart's digital properties. 

Walmart DSP partners with CTV providers to offer advertisers access to a vast network of streaming and other services. This allows brands to reach consumers while they are watching their favorite shows and movies. We also offer a variety of in-store solutions such as TV wall, self-checkout, pickup and delivery sampling, in-store demo, and audio ads to help influence our customers in-store shopping journey. Lastly, because of our omni-channel data and capabilities, we have a better view into the full purchase journey. We know what customers are purchasing online and in-store.

Paul Sonneveld
That's a great summary, Harry. Thank you for being very comprehensive there. But if I want to know more, right, so how can sellers and agencies learn even more about the ins and outs of Walmart Connects’ products and the platform?

Harry Clayman
Yeah, great question. So we actually have our online Walmart Connect Academy ad certification program, which is designed to educate and empower advertisers and partners to become experts in our platform and products. So we currently have seven certifications available. That is Walmart Connect Retail Media, Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Video, Onsite Display, Creative Essentials, Brand Shop and Shelf, and Walmart DSP Measurement and Reporting. 

Each certification is made up of a series of e-courses. And when you complete a course, you can show off the skills you mastered through a LinkedIn badge that we offer. So if you want to learn more about our ad certification program, visit walmartconnect.com/connect-ad-certification links there. And feel free to take all of the certifications that we offer.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you, Harry. That link was only up for a short time, so I will post it in the comments as well very shortly. I think it's a great resource to check out. Harry, we've seen Walmart Connect really roll out some exciting product updates recently. Can you touch on some of these news capabilities like target ROAS, search incrementality, display API, and store attribution? That's a lot, but I'd love to get your take on some of these.

Harry Clayman
Yeah, of course. So we're very excited about these new capabilities. I'll start with Target ROAS, which we launched this past April. So Target ROAS is the latest in our growing suite of AI-powered bid optimisation strategies. Last year, we introduced dynamic bidding for sponsored products, which adjusts bids in real time based on the likelihood that a customer might purchase an advertised item. With Target ROAS, we're going a step further.

Advertisers can optimise campaigns toward a specific ROAS goal, and it can help brands of all sizes reach their goals while avoiding the manual guesswork. Advertisers and partners can now activate Target ROAS in the Walmart Connect Ad Center or via API. Our technology partners, PackView and OptiWise, were among some of our first partners to integrate with this solution. 

We also launched search incrementality in April. We know that search advertising continues to be the cornerstone of any successful retail media strategy, and that it's critical for advertisers to understand the incremental sales their campaigns are driving. With search incrementality, advertisers will be able to make sharper data-driven decisions about their channel investments. They can evaluate how current sponsored search strategies are driving incremental sales online, identify top-performing brands within their portfolio, and reallocate budgets to meet demand.

And this is key during moments such as seasonal campaigns. Most importantly, they will be able to clearly and confidently report the incremental impact of their investment back to their organisation. Since search incrementality is not available via API, you will need to reach out to your Walmart Connect representative to get started. 

Next is the display advertising API. In February, we expanded access to display advertising for partners in the Walmart Connect Partner Network. Last year, we launched the Display Reporting API. So now with the launch of Display Advertising API, we've created a new foundation for how our partners access Walmart Connect's on-site display capabilities. 

On-site display plays a key role in helping drive connections across the entire shopper journey. And with the Display Advertising API, advertisers can now do two key things. First, they can leverage partner expertise for on-site display to launch new campaigns or to optimise existing ones. Thus, maximising the return on your display investment. And then second, they can complement their sponsored search efforts and engage new audiences across Walmart's site and app. And this will help drive new, this will help drive business outcomes. 

Lastly, I'll wrap up with store attribution, which is a new set of in-store sales metrics that allow advertisers to track the impact of their online ads on in-store purchases. These metrics provide visibility into the influence of sponsored search ads on physical store transactions, helping advertisers understand their customers' purchase behaviour.

Paul Sonneveld
Thanks, Harry. I wanted to pick up a little bit. I'm very excited about the in-store attribution piece. I mean, I think that's amazing, being able to link online click behaviour or viewing behaviour back to in-store purchases. But in addition to store attribution, what are some of the other metrics that advertisers should really pay close attention to within Walmart Connect? I mean, what would you advise and recommend?

Harry Clayman
Yeah. Well, we offer a variety of metrics that align with all stages of the marketing funnel. So awareness, consideration and conversion. The key is to match your KPIs to your campaign's intent and goal. And a lot of advertisers are focused on conversion and often only care about ROAS. I encourage advertisers to first determine their goal to help guide them on the metrics that they should pay attention to. 

So for brands looking to build brand recognition and reach new audiences, you should be focusing on impressions, reach, or new-to-brand metrics. For brands focused on influencing shopper decision, you should be looking at mid-funnel metrics like CTR and brand lift. And lastly, for brands who want to grow their business, they should be focusing on new buyers or new brand buyers, sales lift, and lastly, incrementality.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you, Harry. At this point of the podcast, I always like to ask a question sort of getting to really the practical side of things. And a lot of it's got to do about avoiding mistakes. So, what do you see is a very common mistake that sellers and agencies make when transitioning to Walmart? And what tips do you have to help them to drive impact quickly?

Harry Clayman
Yeah, well, the truth is you can't just copy and paste from other platforms. At Walmart, it really starts with building a solid foundation, or as we call it, being retail-ready. Having a solid retail-ready foundation can help position your products for greater visibility, higher conversion rates, and increased sales opportunities. 

So for those that may not know, being retail-ready means having quality product information and availability, fast fulfillment, a positive customer experience that's backed by reviews and a strong marketing strategy. We also recommend investing in advertising. I suggest adopting a full funnel strategy which starts with search advertising, because it's crucial for growing sales on Walmart's marketplace. Marketplace sellers who advertise see an average 5 to 1 return on ad spend. 

Lastly, I would recommend working with a partner like MerchantSpring. They can help reach your advertising goals. Sellers of all sizes and types can benefit from working with a partner. Whether you're an emerging business and don't know where to start, or you're an innovative brand looking for ways to automate campaign analytics, insights, and reporting, working with a partner like MerchantSpring is going to help accelerate your growth.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you, Harry. I appreciate the kind words about MerchantSpring there as well. And the some great stats are around the average return on Ad spend. Very interesting. I'm sure at this point, whether those watching live or watching this on demand later, I'm sure there's some interest now in terms of, you know, sellers or an agency's thinking about, OK, how do I transition to walmart.com? So for those that are interested in actually exploring the opportunity, Do you offer any incentives or promotional initiatives that they can take advantage of right now? Is there a carrot that you can offer?

Harry Clayman
Yes, there is a carrot. So from now until January 31st of 2026, we are running a new seller savings program. So if eligible, when you sign up to start selling on walmart.com, you can get 75% off base referral fees, $2,000 in Walmart fulfillment services credits, and $1,000 in Walmart Connect ad credits. So if you're interested in learning more, visit marketplace.walmart.com/nss. I think the link's going to be right there.

Paul Sonneveld
There it is. Yep. Great. No, there's some great savings. You went over there pretty quickly, but you know, 75% off base referral fees, $2,000 in Walmart fulfillment services credits and $1,000 in Walmart connect ad credits. That is a good, that is a really good deal. So, yeah, go check out the link again. I'll post it on the LinkedIn comments as well. Awesome. Well, we are out of time, uh, Harry, so we're going to have to wrap it up. 

First of all, I just want to say thank you so much for, uh, coming on and laying out a really clear proposition on Walmart Connect and how sellers, brands and agencies can really take advantage of that and some of the ins and outs. I really appreciate your comments around retail-ready as well, you know, not just transferring what you've got going on other platforms, but doing things properly to really get that great return on ad spend you talked about before. 

Your insights have really helped clarify some of the complexities. Now, for those interested in learning more about Walmart Connect or maybe having a follow-up conversation with you or someone else in your team, what's the best way to get in touch and explore the opportunity?

Harry Clayman
Yeah, well, thank you, Paul. If you visit walmartconnect.com, there's actually a Let's Connect button in the top right where you can talk to a Walmart Connect representative and learn how to get started with us. Also, in addition to this, we have an established partner network with a variety of campaign management partners. So if you're looking to get started with a partner, you can go through our directory and find any number of campaign management solutions. Either option will help you get started on your Walmart Connect journey. Thank you, Paul and MerchantSpring so much for having me. It was great being on and joining you all today.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you, Harry. I really appreciate it. Take care. 

Harry Clayman
Thank you.

Paul Sonneveld
All right, everyone, that is a wrap for today's episode. I hope you enjoy that. Please check out some of the comments on LinkedIn. We'll be leaving some of the links that Harry spoke about today, and we'll also make sure to include it in the email that goes out to all those who have registered for this webinar. So you can re-watch this episode on demand at your leisure. Thank you so much for tuning in. Take care, stay safe, and see you next time. Bye.