Fill the Retail Media Funnel with Walmart Connect Sponsored Videos and Sponsored Brands

In retail media’s relatively short history, it has been somewhat pigeonholed as a bottom-funnel tactic. It’s not hard to see why — retail media reaches online shoppers at the point of purchase. Marketers use other channels, such as paid search and social advertising, to drive consumers to online retailers, where retail media captures demand like a net at the very bottom of the funnel. 

As retail media evolves, one of the fastest-growing innovation areas has been the addition of ad formats that go beyond the bottom of the funnel. For retail media marketers, this should signal that they no longer need to focus solely on how other channels bring consumers to online retailers. Retail media can get the job done on its own — collapsing the funnel within the online store and moving consumers through the purchase path from discovery to purchase.

For example, Walmart Connect’s Sponsored Videos and Sponsored Brands enable advertisers to address all stages of the consumer journey—upper (awareness), mid (consideration), and bottom (conversion). When strategically combined, this full-funnel Walmart Connect strategy helps brands stay one step ahead of competitors and turns unaware shoppers into loyal customers without ever leaving the confines of Walmart.com (or the Walmart app). 

Interested in learning more about full-funnel retail media with Walmart Connect? 

Here’s everything you need to know to get started with Sponsored Videos and Sponsored Brands

Walmart Connect Sponsored Videos

Sponsored Videos provide customers with a product demonstration right within their Walmart.com  and Walmart app search results. In these ads, auto-playing video tells a brand’s story while providing an at-a-glance value proposition as shoppers search for new products. 

How do Sponsored Videos work?

Walmart Connect Sponsored Videos are industry-standard, 16:9 videos that appear in the grid among search results, with shoppers able to click anywhere on the video to reach the product page for further information. Sponsored Videos span the entire width of the page on desktop, mobile, and app, enhancing visibility and engagement by automatically playing the video in a prominent position below the scroll on search pages. A convenient “add-to-cart” button also makes it easy to purchase products directly from the ad. For Sponsored Videos, a minimum of 1 item to a maximum of 10 items can be added to one video campaign. 

Sponsored Videos are designed for strong brand and product storytelling, ideal for launching new products and educating customers about product benefits at the consideration stage, bridging the gap between performance display and other channels.

Like other Walmart Connect self-serve ads, Sponsored Videos are sold based on a keyword bidding system. Within the portal, advertisers can fine-tune video ad campaigns by managing budgets and maximizing investment by ensuring that videos are active during peak shopping hours. 

Sponsored Videos across the funnel

While shoppable video ads are relatively new, they’re quickly becoming an essential part of a successful full-funnel advertising strategy. More than half (57%) of ad agency insiders believe that shoppable video is the next frontier in digital advertising. The enthusiasm around Sponsored Videos is likely because of the eye-catching, interactive nature of video. After all, sight/sound/motion advertising has been a staple of modern marketing for decades and is one of the most powerful storytelling mediums available to advertisers.

Here are a few critical ways Sponsored Videos can help grab audience attention at every stage of the buyer’s journey. 

Amplify brand awareness. Walmart customers are already highly engaged. 75% of customers use Walmart’s website to compare items and products, and 45% responded they browse product details to learn more about new products. Sponsored Videos combine compelling visuals with at-a-glance product details without leaving search results pages — exactly where audiences want to discover new brands. 

Provide instant product demos. Shoppable video ads can help guide Walmart’s purchase decisions by demonstrating product uses and benefits in critical moments of the consideration stage. These in-grid demos can result in increased traffic to item pages, heightened product visibility, engagement with customers in the market, and more.

Boost conversions. The straightforward add-to-cart button within Sponsored Videos enables a seamless transition from viewer to buyer. A simple-to-use buy button can help protect market share, prompt purchases, accelerate customer conversions, and more.

While Sponsored Videos are an exciting new way to help customers see the value of your products, they’re just one piece of the Walmart advertising puzzle. Using Sponsored Videos alongside Walmart Connect Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products keeps your product visible at every stage of the buyer’s journey and the most prominent positions within the search results. 

Sponsored Brands

Unlike Sponsored Videos that appear within the search results, Sponsored Brands appear above search results on the Walmart website. These hard-to-miss ads showcase your brand logo, a personalized headline, and up to four featured items. The products featured in these ads change based on algorithmic insights around shoppers’ search terms, product availability, and the quality of their respective item pages. 

Sponsored Brands are a Walmart Connect premium placement. They offer the highest viewability and send brands to the top of relevant search results, which is pivotal for awareness and conversion.

How do Sponsored Brands work?

With Walmart Connect Sponsored Brands, shoppers have a few options for connecting with a brand or particular product by engaging with the ad. Clicking the main logo brings customers to a search or browse page, and clicking on one of the four featured items leads customers to specific product pages. 

Like Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands are sold on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, meaning that advertisers only pay when shoppers click their ads. Like other Walmart Connect ad products, advertisers can adjust bids, view campaign insights, and fine-tune their ad strategy to amplify performance within the portal. 

Sponsored Brands across the funnel

Sponsored Brands are a great way to stay top-of-mind by appearing at the top of the search results page. This heightened visibility can be especially advantageous for smaller brands, new advertisers within the Walmart ecosystem, and introducing new products that may have yet to establish strong organic search rankings on Walmart.

Here are some main ways Sponsored Brands can help improve overall campaign strategy. 

Reinforce brand image: Sponsored Brands offer businesses the highest visibility on a search results page. For buyers in the discovery phase of the purchase funnel, your brand will be the first thing they see as they begin their journey.  

Gain share of brand voice: Walmart is one of the most extensive retail media networks in the world. Established sellers and brands new to the platform alike are competing within the platform to convert new audiences while staying relevant to past customers. Sponsored Brands are a great way to rise above the competition and stand out in a crowded marketplace. 

Launch new or seasonal items: Because Sponsored Brands promote the entire brand alongside four items dynamically selected to appeal to specific search queries, they’re a great way to show customers what’s new. For example, for a brand that sells office supplies, back-to-school is one of the biggest times of the year. Showcasing that a single brand can provide one-stop shopping for someone looking to fill their cart with affordable, high-quality school supplies could be just the nudge a customer needs to convert.

Advertising with Walmart Connect has quickly become an important part of a robust retail media strategy. However, most brands have to build campaigns that perform across multiple retail media networks to meet customers wherever they search and purchase new products. Adopting the right omnichannel marketing tool can provide at-a-glance insights into all your Walmart Connect ads and give you a complete look at the overall health of all your retail media campaigns. 

Walmart Connect + Skai for omnichannel mastery

While this article focuses on the full-funnel Walmart Connect opportunity, it doesn’t mean retail media marketers should neglect other digital channels, such as paid search and social advertising, to help drive interested consumers to brand retailer pages. The tried and true approach to media planning is a balanced mix of channels and tactics, ensuring your target audience sees you wherever they go online.

Skai’s Retail Media solution empowers marketers to plan, execute, and measure digital campaigns that meet consumers when and where they shop. As part of our omnichannel platform, connect the walled gardens and manage campaigns on 100+ retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart, alongside major publishers across paid search, paid social, and apps.

For more information, schedule a brief demo to see how our Walmart Connect support can help boost your retail media strategy.