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*Intercom voice* “Billboard, aisle seven!”
In addition to playing ads at the self-checkout and on screens in the TV aisle, Walmart is testing ads that will play over the store’s intercoms as well as in-store demos, further bringing the concept of retail media back to the physical retailer.
Walmart, if you haven’t heard, is already a formidable ad network. The big box retailer’s ad business netted $2.7 billion last year, growing almost 30% year over year, according to its Q4 2022 earnings report.
It’s one of many grocery and big box chains investing in retail media, a sector expected to more than double by 2027, according to eMarketer.
Partly powered programmatically through the Trade Desk, Walmart’s retail media business has also inked digital partnerships with Snap and TikTok. The latest offerings embody the promise of retail media—using Walmart’s massive scale (and its rich customer data) to sell a whole lotta ads on its site and across the internet.
According to CNBC, 30-second radio spots will be able to target specific stores and regions, and in a personal blow to Costco, the company is also pitching advertisers sample stations that can be bundled with other ad inventory.
“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,” Ryan Mayward, SVP of retail media sales for Walmart Connect, told the business news network.
Walmart will announce its earnings later this month.
Correction 8/3/23: This article initially incorrectly stated that Walmart's TV screen and self-checkout ads are new.