In a zero-sum game, winner takes all, but retail media isn’t football. As Walmart Connect, Walmart’s global advertising arm, notches yet another victory, this week TWIRM is asking: How can smaller retailers borrow from its retail media playbook to score their own wins?
TWIRM, as every retail media maven knows, is the This Week in Retail Media podcast, hosted by Kate Dickson, Head of Marketing and Communications, Retail Media, STRATACACHE, and Jonathan Rosen, STRATACACHE’s Global EVP of Retail Media Strategy. Each week, Kate and Jonathan dive deep into three stories that excite them, intrigue them and even, sometimes, make them crack open the champ’s winning playbook.
This week, the top story is Walmart’s global advertising business, whose revenue grew 33% in Q3, six times the rate of its overall retail sales, demonstrating that retail media is becoming a core profit engine surpassing retail sales. Of course, Walmart’s scale puts it in rarefied territory, but can other retailers sneak a peek at its playbook to make their own smart moves?
For Jonathan and Kate, the answer is a resounding yes. “Look at everything they do, and pick and choose the things that might be applicable for you,” Jonathan advises. They highlight how Walmart leverages physical spaces as media surfaces, uses customer data to identify meaningful ad touchpoints, and strategically partners with outside tech providers and media companies.
After decoding Walmart’s retail media strategy, Kate and Jonathan look at Albertsons’ new partnership with NBC Universal to bring closed-loop measurement to connected TV. Lastly, they check out how digital signs at Toronto’s Union Station are using facial detection technology without explicit consent, sparking privacy concerns.
Click here to hear Kate and Jonathan discuss what Walmart is doing right in retail media, and how smaller retailers can borrow a page from their winning playbook.
