Walmart Connect: The Second Channel Most Brands Underuse

Most brands treat Amazon advertising as the whole game and give Walmart a fraction of the attention. That is exactly why Walmart is often the better return. Walmart Connect, the retailer’s retail media network, sits on top of a marketplace that is less saturated than Amazon in most categories, which means lower competition for ad placements and, frequently, cheaper clicks for the same intent. The brands that win here are the ones who stop treating Walmart as an afterthought and start running it as a real channel.

Why the second channel is often the smart one

Amazon is where most U.S. product search begins, so it is rarely optional. But precisely because everyone crowds onto Amazon, the marginal ad dollar there is expensive and getting more so. Walmart’s advertiser base is smaller and its shopper base is enormous, so the supply and demand of ad inventory tilts in your favor. For a brand with limited budget, a dollar on Walmart Connect frequently buys more visibility and more incremental sales than the same dollar fighting for position on Amazon.

The formats, and how to use them

Walmart Connect runs on a familiar structure. Sponsored Products put your item in search results and on product pages, and this is where most brands should start because it captures shoppers with buying intent. Sponsored Brands build awareness with a branded headline and a product lineup. Sponsored Video and display extend reach further up the funnel and across the site and app. The discipline is the same as any retail media program: start with the high-intent, bottom-of-funnel placements, prove they convert profitably, then expand into awareness once the foundation earns its keep.

Run it to margin, not to vanity

The trap on any marketplace is optimizing to impressions or raw sales instead of profit. Walmart is no different. What matters is advertising cost of sale against your real unit economics, the balance between defending your own branded terms and winning new conversion, and steady reallocation of budget toward the products and keywords that actually return. Sponsored Products should be structured cleanly at the product level, bids and budgets managed continuously, and spend moved toward winners on a weekly rhythm. That operating loop is where the compounding efficiency comes from.

The operational reality behind the ads

Advertising amplifies a listing, it does not fix one. On Walmart, ads convert best when the fundamentals are already in place: strong content and images, competitive pricing, reliable fulfillment through Walmart Fulfillment Services or a fast 3PL, and enough reviews to build trust. Review velocity tends to be lower on Walmart than Amazon, so the brands that invest early in content and reviews get an outsized advantage when their ads start driving traffic. The channel rewards operators who treat advertising and the listing as one system.

The takeaway

Walmart Connect is not a smaller copy of Amazon advertising. It is a distinct channel where less competition and a huge shopper base can make your ad budget work harder, if you run it with discipline and back it with strong listings. Sequence into it deliberately, measure to margin, and manage it as an ongoing program rather than a set-and-forget campaign.

If you want to know whether Walmart should be your next channel and what it would take to win there, a strategy assessment is a good place to start.