• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 28, 2022

Advertisers working with Walmart will soon will have the option to tap into more platform partners across ad tech, measurement, ecommerce and shopper marketing. 

On Thursday the retailer’s media platform, Walmart Connect, announced the evolution of its partnership program, expanding the ecosystem to increase services and support.

Diana Finster, head of Agency and Tech Partnerships at Walmart Connect, believes partnerships can help “unlock” more opportunities for advertisers.

“Thanks to our newest API and agency partners, we’re excited to introduce even more best-in-class technology that helps brands and sellers scale and grow,” she says.

The partnership includes solutions and technology for companies that develop unique features and capabilities to enhance advertising campaigns.

When BirdRock Brands turned to Pacvue, a Walmart Platform partner, to grow its manual Sponsored Products campaigns, it built a campaign that generated return on ad spend (ROAS) of 11% more than its target. Sales rose 83% for the quarter, compared with the prior.

BIC, the France-based company best known for ballpoint pens and lighters, ran campaigns between December 2 through December 31, 2021, for its Soleil Click 5 women’s disposable razor, Comfort 3 Hybrid men’s razor, and BodyMark, a temporary-tattoo marker. The company saw 492% ROAS for its men’s razor; 472% ROAS for its women’s razor, and 42% ROAS for BodyMark.

Partnerships based on APIs have become a core part of Walmart Connect, especially as it expands self-service support.

The service adds five more API partners to its platform, so suppliers and sellers have more options. The five companies added to the list of nine include CommerceIQ, which provides AI-driven ecommerce channel optimization across supply chain, marketing and sales; Intentwise, which supports ad optimization as an SaaS platform that offers recommendations, automation and analytics; Perpetua, an ecommerce ad platform that provides optimization and intelligence software; Quartile, an ecommerce cross-channel ad platform for activating and optimizing digital advertising; and Sellozo, an ecommerce ad optimization and intelligence software platform.