One of Walmart’s latest offerings at its SuperCenters isn’t a hot new toy, snack flavor or sundress. It’s advertising.
Shoppers will soon see more third-party ads on screens in Walmart self-checkout lanes and TV aisles; hear spots over the store’s radio; and be able to sample items at demo stations.
Walmart’s push into advertising resembles similar moves by retailers like Kroger, which struck a deal to bring digital smart screens to cooler aisles in hundreds of its stores, and Target, which began testing in-store demos and giveaways, including a recent “Barbie” branded event with Mattel that took place at about 200 stores.
For Walmart, selling ad space to its wealth of existing partners is another way to capitalize on the company’s huge reach and to expand into higher-margin businesses. The discounter has nearly 4,700 stores across the U.S., with roughly 90% of Americans living within 10 miles of a Walmart store.
In the U.S., about 139 million customers visit Walmart stores and its website or app each week.
“When you think about our store, our store footprint and the percentage of Americans that we reach through our stores, we can deliver Super Bowl-sized audiences every week,” said Ryan Mayward, senior vice president of retail media sales for Walmart Connect, the retailer’s advertising business.
Leave it to brilliant marketing types like this one and a board who doesn’t know middle America at all to rush to stepping on the company’s own crank with what they wish was enlightenment but was actually ignorance and unwarranted pride.