Walmart is set to enhance its in-store advertising strategy, with plans to broadcast advertisements on self-checkout screens, TV demo walls, and other in-store surfaces. This move is aimed at providing brands with significant exposure to the retailer's large customer base.
Ryan Mayward, Senior VP of Retail Media Sales for Walmart Connect, compared the company's ad reach to "Super Bowl-sized audiences every week". Walmart operates 4,684 stores in the US, serving 240 million weekly customers worldwide.
Walmart plans to place advertisements on approximately 170,000 screens across its stores, alongside 30-second radio advertisements broadcast from store ceilings. This opportunity, available to businesses later this year, offers regional or store-specific targeting options.
Further, Walmart is set to expand its food demo kiosks, similar to Costco's sampler stations, to 1,000 stores nationwide by January end. Advertisers can bundle these stations with other ad options, providing QR codes for instant customer purchases.
While currently a small fraction of Walmart's total revenue, advertising is part of the company's strategy to diversify its income streams. The company earned $2.7 billion from advertising last fiscal year, out of a total revenue of $611.3 billion. Similar in-store ad initiatives are being tested by other retailers, including Target and Walgreens.
