Everything You Need To Know About Walmart's Demand-Side Platform (DSP) [in Partnership with The Trade Desk]
Walmart Connect has ushered the benefits of automation into their off-site advertising arsenal through their recently-announced partnership with The Trade Desk. For advertisers looking to reach Walmart’s extensive network of in-store and Walmart.com shoppers across the internet and streaming devices, things just got a whole lot easier. As for how many shoppers Walmart physically, or digitally, sees in an average week…
“Each week, approximately 220 million customers and members visit approximately 10,500 stores and clubs under 48 banners in 24 countries and eCommerce websites.”
Walmart shared the news of their new DSP in August 2021, noting that their overall “vision is focused on three key strategic areas that allow [Walmart Connect] to go beyond traditional media channels and offer meaningful experiences and integrations to bring brands measurably closer to their customers.”
Walmart Connect’s three key strategic areas of focus include:
- Expanding on offerings across their variety of digital properties to better enable advertisers to create holistic campaigns
- Introducing new omni capabilities, designed to help brands connect with in-store shoppers
- Growing their “offsite media opportunities at scale” through the introduction of Walmart DSP
Walmart DSP Differentiators
Walmart’s is not the first automated ad-buying tool in the market, but it has entered the space with a splash by partnering with The Trade Desk (TTD)—the largest independent DSP globally—for its bespoke build.
So, is Walmart’s DSP essentially The Trade Desk DSP by a different name? Not exactly.
“Walmart’s new DSP marries the power of The Trade Desk’s industry leading technology with Walmart’s expansive omni-channel first party data, leading to a differentiated offer that is now open to more sellers at scale. With the added benefit of Walmart’s closed loop reporting, sellers will have a clear view of the impact that their omni-channel ad efforts are having throughout all points of the customer journey, both on and offline.”
— Stuart Clay, Associate Director, Marketplace Strategic Services at Tinuiti
As reported by AdExchanger in early 2021:
“Walmart’s DSP is a separate, walled-off version of the Trade Desk, filled with exclusive Walmart data and inventory (and connected to a different cloud, given that using Amazon Web Services is verboten for Walmart).”
Walmart brings their own strengths to the partnership as the world’s largest retailer, a “first place” status they’ve secured by a sizable margin against runner-up, Amazon.
“Unlike other DSP products in the market, our standalone platform combines the best-in-class technology and performance of The Trade Desk with the robust scale of Walmart’s unparalleled first party omnichannel data, allowing advertisers to be more effective with their overall media spend.”
Walmart DSP Capabilities & Benefits
- Precise and Timely Targeting. Advertisers enjoy enhanced audience targeting precision by leveraging Walmart’s extensive first-party data, including: past purchase audiences, predictive audiences, and brand-level in-store and online shopping behavior data
- Reach shoppers wherever they are. Easily extend your campaign to target audiences across an array of channels within The Trade Desk’s inventory, including through: Display ads; Streaming video, mobile, and audio ads; Connected TV (CTV) ads
- Closed-loop measurement for more informed strategic optimizations. By connecting online and in-store transaction data, Walmart’s DSP gives advertisers a fuller picture of which specific digital and in-store ads played the greatest role in increasing conversions. This helps in optimizing both current and future campaigns, and determining which channels deserve the greatest percentage of your ad budget
- Cross-campaign frequency caps eliminate wasted spend. Walmart is able to “frequency-cap across campaigns, regardless of whether the campaign is running in a traditional TTD seat or in the new Walmart DSP seat,” ensuring that advertisers aren’t inadvertently “bidding against themselves.”
In early 2021, Jeff Green, CEO of The Trade Desk, shared the following takeaway regarding the partnership in TTD’s company newsletter, The Current:
“By connecting the dots and closing the loop — from ad purchase, to consumer purchase, to look-a-like modeling, to repeating the process — the brand’s media sales are optimized to sell more product at Walmart. They are now getting more insights than ever.”
— Jeff Green, cofounder, and CEO of The Trade Desk
First-party data is only growing in value as brands and advertisers prepare for a cookieless future. As marketers look for innovative ways to reach targeted audiences in an increasingly privacy-focused space, we expect interest in Walmart’s DSP, and the streamlined capabilities it offers, will grow along with it.
Want to learn more about Walmart advertising? Reach out today to chat with an expert!
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