Walmart Connect is Walmart's retail media network that lets brands buy sponsored placements across Walmart.com, the Walmart app, and in-store screens. The short answer is that it works like Amazon Ads: you bid on keyword and category placements tied to high purchase intent, and you pay when shoppers engage or convert, with measurement tied to Walmart's own sales data.
Key Takeaways
- Walmart Connect is the retail media arm of Walmart, reaching shoppers on the site, in the app, and in physical stores.
- Ad formats include Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Display, and in-store media, with Sponsored Products as the entry point.
- Walmart Connect runs on an auction where you set daily budgets and bids, and costs scale with category competition.
- Targeting is mostly keyword and category based, with audience and supplier-supported segments layered on for larger advertisers.
- Measurement is strong because Walmart can close the loop from ad impression to in-store and online purchase.
What Is Walmart Connect?
Walmart Connect is the advertising business of Walmart, formerly called Walmart Media Group. It sells sponsored and display inventory to brands that want to appear when shoppers search and browse Walmart's properties. Because Walmart sits at the end of the purchase funnel - people are there to buy - the inventory carries high commercial intent, which is why retail media has grown faster than most other ad channels.
The network spans three surfaces: the digital storefront (Walmart.com and the app), Walmart's off-site placements, and in-store media such as TV walls and end-cap screens. For most brands the digital Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands formats are the place to start, because they map directly to search behavior and are the easiest to measure.
How Much Does Walmart Connect Advertising Cost?
Walmart Connect runs on a real-time auction, so you set daily budgets and bids and pay for engagements or clicks depending on the format. Costs scale with how competitive your category is. Advertisers commonly cite cost per click spanning roughly $0.30 to $1.50, though grocery and household essentials tend to be cheaper than electronics or apparel, where more brands compete for the same search terms.
Unlike social platforms, the budget math is tied to retail outcomes. A modest ACoS (advertising cost of sales) target, often 10% to 20% for established products, keeps spend disciplined. New or seasonal items may temporarily run higher as you build ranking and review velocity. The key is to watch unit economics, not just traffic, because Walmart's data lets you see the sales the ads actually drove.
| Format | Where it shows | Typical buying model |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsored Products | Search and product detail pages | Cost per click (auction) |
| Sponsored Brands | Top of search results | Cost per click (auction) |
| Display | On-site and off-site | CPM or engagement |
| In-store media | Physical stores | Program or packaged buy |
How Do You Set Up a Walmart Connect Account?
Access starts through the Walmart Advertising platform once your brand sells on Walmart Marketplace or supplies Walmart through a registered supplier relationship. You create an advertiser profile, link the relevant Walmart items or catalog, and add a payment method. Larger suppliers may work through a Walmart team or an agency partner, while marketplace sellers can self-serve.
- Confirm your selling relationship with Walmart (Marketplace seller or approved supplier).
- Register in the Walmart Advertising console and complete billing setup.
- Connect your catalog so the right items are eligible for Sponsored Products.
- Install or confirm conversion and sales tracking so reporting reflects true outcomes.
- Set a starting daily budget and pick your first campaign objective.
What Ad Formats Does Walmart Connect Offer?
Sponsored Products are the workhorse: they place individual items in search results and on relevant product pages, and they are the easiest to launch. Sponsored Brands put a brand or a small collection at the top of search, useful for building recognition and defending category share. Display reaches shoppers on and off Walmart, while in-store media extends the message to the physical aisle.
For most new advertisers, Sponsored Products deliver the fastest, most measurable return because they sit exactly where purchase decisions happen. Layer in Sponsored Brands once you have margins to defend a category, and consider Display or in-store only when you have the creative and the volume to justify it.
How Do You Build a Walmart Connect Campaign?
- Choose an objective, usually driving sales for a set of items or defending a category.
- Select the products to advertise; leading with bestsellers and high-margin items reduces risk.
- Set a daily budget and a bid informed by your target ACoS.
- Pick keywords or let auto-targeting surface relevant searches, then refine weekly.
- Review search term reports and pause wasted terms while scaling winners.
What Targeting and Bidding Options Are Available?
The core lever is keyword and category targeting: you bid to appear when shoppers search terms related to your products. Auto-targeting lets Walmart match your items to queries, which is a good starting point, while manual keywords give tighter control. Larger advertisers can add audience segments and supplier-provided data to reach specific shopper groups.
Bidding is set per campaign or ad group against your ACoS goal. Start conservative, let the system learn, then raise bids on the terms that convert. Because Walmart's auction rewards relevance and sales history, well-reviewed, in-stock items naturally win cheaper placements than thin or out-of-stock listings.
How Do You Measure Walmart Connect Performance?
The platform reports impressions, clicks, spend, and - critically - attributed sales, both online and, for many categories, in-store. That closed-loop view is the main advantage over channels that stop at the click. Track return on ad spend and ACoS as your north-star metrics, and segment by format and by keyword to find where efficiency is best.
Build a weekly report that maps ad spend to incremental sales, not just total sales, because some attributed revenue would have happened anyway. Compare Sponsored Products against Sponsored Brands to allocate budget, and use search-term data to feed both your bidding and your broader marketplace SEO decisions.
Walmart Connect vs Other Retail Media Networks
Walmart Connect competes most directly with Amazon Ads for retail search dollars, and it sits inside the broader retail media wave covered in our retail media networks guide. Its differentiator is Walmart's massive grocery and everyday-essentials footprint, which captures shoppers Amazon's cart misses. For a balanced off-Amazon strategy, our Amazon advertising Reddit discussion is a useful contrast on where retail media budgets are debated. Most brands should treat Walmart Connect as a complement to, not a replacement for, Amazon: each owns a different share of the cart.
What Are the Most Common Walmart Connect Mistakes?
The biggest mistake is advertising out-of-stock or poorly reviewed items, because the auction penalizes listings that cannot convert and you burn spend on clicks that will not buy. The second is ignoring search-term reports, which means you keep paying for irrelevant queries. The third is setting bids without an ACoS target, so spend drifts above what the margin allows.
A fourth mistake is treating Walmart Connect like social awareness buying. It is bottom-funnel retail media, so the creative matters less than price, availability, reviews, and ranking. Win those fundamentals first, then use ads to amplify items that already convert, and you will get far more efficient results than by boosting weak listings.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Walmart Connect Advertising?
Walmart Connect is the retail media network owned by Walmart. It lets brands buy sponsored and display placements on Walmart.com, the Walmart app, and in physical stores. Because shoppers on Walmart are there to purchase, the inventory carries strong commercial intent, and advertisers can close the loop from ad to sale using Walmart's own data.
How Much Does Walmart Connect Cost?
Walmart Connect runs on a real-time auction where you set daily budgets and bids. Advertisers commonly cite cost per click in a broad range, often around $0.30 to $1.50, but the real cost depends on how competitive your category is. Grocery and household essentials usually cost less than electronics or apparel, where more brands chase the same search terms.
Do I Need to Sell on Walmart to Use Walmart Connect?
Yes, in practice you need a selling relationship with Walmart, either as a Walmart Marketplace seller or as an approved supplier. That relationship is what makes your items eligible for Sponsored Products and lets the platform attribute sales back to your ads. Larger suppliers may access more formats through a Walmart team or agency partner.
What Is the Best Walmart Connect Ad Format to Start With?
Sponsored Products is the best starting point for almost every new advertiser. It places individual items in search results and on product pages, exactly where purchase decisions happen, and it is the easiest format to measure. Add Sponsored Brands once you want to defend a category, and consider Display or in-store media only when volume and creative justify it.
How Is Walmart Connect Different from Amazon Ads?
Both are retail media networks that let you bid on high-intent retail searches, but Walmart Connect's strength is grocery and everyday-essentials shopping, capturing trips Amazon's cart often misses. Amazon tends to win on broader general merchandise and a deeper third-party tool ecosystem. Most brands run both as complements rather than choosing one, because each owns a different share of the cart.
For another retail media network, see our guide to Instacart Ads.