Walmart will use customer information to sell advertising

Walmart in Mexico has entered the digital advertising business. He has created a robotic system for the sale of advertising based on the buying habits, browsing history and interests of his consumers.

The service is called Walmart DSP and will use the data on the purchase decisions of its users and information from millions of visits to the websites of the Walmart family —Bodega Aurrerá, Walmart Express, Walmart Supercenter and Sam’s Club.

Customers and users of electronic commerce of Walmart They will be integrated into consumer categories, which will be available to advertising buyers. Advertisers will be able to select the category that best suits their marketing interests at the right time.

For example, if a person regularly buys formula milk on the websites of Walmartthat person will be integrated into a category such as “People with children”, “Baby food”, “Formula” or “Baby needs”.

Advertisers will select from among those categories to serve more accurate advertising to their target audience outside of the websites of Walmart. Thus, a person searching for or reading information on baby clothes might come across an ad for a new formula.

Walmart DSP it is based on a trend of use and exploitation of data called First Party Data. This trend has become popular, above all, from the threats of Google to remove third-party cookies, which will leave advertisers unable to collect their own information from consumers.

The First Party Data It implies that the companies themselves are responsible for generating the data necessary to mobilize their business units through their own platforms.

An eyewear store, for example, can collect data from its customers by recording information on all purchases. You can also create services that invite consumers to submit personal information, such as name, email, and preferences. That information will form your First Party Data: information collected in first person.

Walmart It has third place as the store with the highest online sales in Mexico. The first place is from Mercado Libre and the second, from Amazon, according to Euromonitor International, a firm specializing in market research. According to a presentation by the Walmart DSP, the four family websites Walmart They produce 132 million average visits per month.

Its popularity and position in the market offer Walmart an advantage in the collection of consumer information, known in English as “data shopper”. Savvy providers record any interaction of their consumers on their digital properties: websites, apps, social networks. Transformed into useful data, such as consumer categories, it is irresistible “first party data”.

Buying habits are the most relevant information about consumers. They allow creating trends and anticipating purchasing decisions to influence them

Walmart DSP You will use your data shopper in the form of consumer categories. Walmart it will not sell personal information of its clients and consumers —that was the promise of its executives who presented the platform. It will offer packages with relevant information based on audience groups and consumption.

“It’s not about directing campaigns to individual users but to categories,” said Jonatan Ezequiel Fasano, Product Manager at Walmart Connect, the unit responsible for the new advertising service in the so-called retail media (media created for sales).

Walmart DSP It is the first step for Walmart in Mexico and Central America in digital advertising for third parties. Possibly continue selling spaces on your own platforms (banners and links to sponsored products), as you already do Amazon. Beyond speculation, it is another demonstration that the data is pure gold.