Walmart’s ambitions to become a major advertising player continue to grow.
The retailer reported 26% year-over-year growth in its global advertising business in the second quarter of its fiscal 2025. In the U.S., Walmart’s advertising business, called Walmart Connect, saw 30% year-over-year growth in the same period.
Walmart credited the advertising boom in particular to third-party sellers on marketplaces, which allow brands to list and sell their own items. Third-party advertising revenue on marketplaces increased nearly 50% year over year in the quarter.
The retailer did not disclose the total size of its advertising business. Walmart most recently valued its global advertising business at $3.4 billion in a year-end report for fiscal year 2024.
Walmart is the second-largest retail media player behind Amazon, according to Emarketer. The research firm expects Walmart to generate $3.7 billion from advertising this year, while Amazon is expected to generate $42 billion in the U.S. By comparison, Target is expected to generate $1.76 billion in the U.S. and Instacart will reach $1 billion, according to Emarketer.
Advertising is one of several growth drivers for Walmart to make e-commerce profitable. Walmart’s membership model, sales through its third-party marketplace and fulfillment centers are other growth areas, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said during the quarterly earnings call.
Walmart seeks big brands’ money
The majority of the retailer’s advertising business comes from well-known brands that sell their products through Walmart, but Walmart is also eyeing new types of advertisers.
Walmart recently expanded its offering to non-endemic advertisers and now also offers in-store advertising formats at self-checkouts and TV walls, according to a sales presentation. The TV wall advertising, for example, runs on an average of 20 screens per store and is played between 3 and 12 times per hour. And the advertising at the self-checkouts is seen by 105 million customers weekly.
Walmart also partners with broadcasters like Disney to provide advertisers with data about shoppers that can help better target and measure television advertising.
