Commentary

Inside Home Depot's And Walmart's Retail Media Buying

A shakeup in retail media networks is underway as Home Depot and Walmart separately strengthen their respective positions to support brands and the millions of dollars being invested in ad media buys.

Vantage, founded in 2013, began powering The Home Depot's self-service retail media tech stack, and announced this week the capability is available to all retail media networks. 

The technology aims to transform retail media for advertising by making it possible to present one easy-to-use interface to access all their inventory and technology.

Earlier this week, Orange Apron Media, Home Depot's retail media division, announced the launch where advertisers plan, activate, optimize and report on their media campaigns.

The technology builds on Orange Apron Media's self-service capabilities launched earlier this year to help advertisers expand campaigns using audience extensions beyond HomeDepot.com.

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Vantage and Home Depot began working together across Canada in 2020, and then expanded into the U.S. in 2022.

The Home Depot continues to build what its executives call the first retail media program that connects managed service and self-service advertising options for brands wherever consumers go such as onsite and offsite ads, and in-store media.

Early in retail media, “before it was even called retail media, Vantage had zigged when the rest of the industry zagged,” said Aran Hamilton, CEO and co-founder of Vantage.

Q3 became a critical turning point for retail media as advertisers began to analyze the year’s trends, optimize strategies, and position campaigns for the holiday quarter.

Based on spending from clients at omnichannel ad platform Skai, total retail media spending grew more than 9% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) and more than 28% year-over-year (YoY).

Clicks rose more than 25% YoY, and impressions were up more than 27%. This means that consumers engaged more with ads, according to Skai data, which cites that Walmart saw higher YoY growth of 31% compared with Amazon at 28%.

Hamilton said other companies have begun to focus on building onsite advertising capabilities delivered as a managed service.

Vantage took the completed opposite approach, knowing that retailers would eventually need a good self-serve solution -- one that offered experiences in social media and targeting offsite ads.

The Home Depot is Vantage’s largest client, but executives at the retailer have made it clear they want to learn from past work with companies such as Ulta Beauty and other retail partners launching soon.

Vantage conducted its first proof of concept nine years ago with the Walmart Media Group, and has since worked with several midsized retailers, including Lowe’s. 

Walmart experienced a 31% rise in spending, driven largely by the strength of its grocery and CPG categories, according to Skai. 

Overall CPCs in Q3 rose by 2% YoY, led by Amazon at 4% and Walmart at 9%. Smaller retailers experienced a 14% decline in CPC, which contributed to higher click growth, and CPM rose by 7% QoQ while remaining flat YoY.

Recently, Walmart renamed its insights division, Walmart Luminate. In 2025, the division -- which provides a complete picture of category performance and consumer trends -- will become Scintilla. In Latin, Scintilla means "spark," suggesting the ability to ignite a new idea.

The retailer also launched a new feature for its Walmart Connect retail media network called Insights Activation that allows advertisers to apply Walmart Luminate data to display ad campaigns using its self-serve, automated platform.

It also offers a self-serve insights solution in the Walmart Luminate data analytics product suite designed to help suppliers understand shoppers better.

According to Walmart, Walmart Data Ventures first-party customer data division, which oversees Walmart Luminate, has increased its U.S. client base by 173% since 2023.

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