Seth Dallaire, Chief Revenue Officer at Walmart, shares insights from the Cannes Lions Festival, discussing the explosive growth of Walmart Connect and the value of Walmart Luminate for brands. He emphasizes the importance of data in retail, revealing how brands can leverage these tools for enhanced decision-making and sales. The conversation highlights Walmart's continued evolution in retail media, exploring creative strategies to engage customers in today's digital landscape. Dallaire also touches upon the future of Walmart Data Ventures and its expansive services.
Walmart Connect is rapidly evolving, offering brands valuable advertising solutions and enhancing consumer engagement through innovative retail media strategies.
The podcast highlights the pressing challenges retailers face with consumer subscription services, particularly the decline of Amazon's Subscribe and Save program amid shifting consumer behaviors.
Walmart Plus continues to thrive due to improved delivery services and appealing partnerships, catering to a growing consumer demand for convenient shopping experiences.
Deep dives
Google's Cookie Policy Reversals
Google has decided not to carry out its plan to deprecate third-party cookies in its Chrome browser. This decision stems from the realization that transitioning from third-party cookies would require considerable effort from numerous stakeholders across the online advertising ecosystem. The company recognized that this change could significantly affect publishers, advertisers, and other participants reliant on cookies for targeted advertising. This reversal reflects an ongoing challenge in finding a viable alternative that balances privacy concerns with the needs of advertisers and content creators.
Northeast Grocery's New Media Network
Northeast Grocery Incorporated, known for its Price Chopper and Market32 brands, has introduced a new omni-channel retail media network called Northeast Grocery Shopper Link, in collaboration with Inmar Intelligence. This network aims to offer a comprehensive advertising platform across its nearly 300 store locations, emphasizing off-site and on-site media options. With the growth of retail media industry, regional grocers are recognizing the necessity of partnering with technology firms to provide streamlined services and enhanced insights into consumer packaged goods (CPG). This initiative is likely to bolster connections with shoppers and optimize advertising strategies.
Trends in Amazon's Subscription Service
Amazon's Subscribe and Save program has seen a decline in market share across nine of the top ten consumer packaged goods categories from 2023 to 2024. This trend is attributed to consumer caution regarding spending, leading many to pause subscriptions while they seek better deals. Despite this decline in subscription participation, sales in key categories such as health, personal care, beauty, and pet products are projected to grow in double digits over the next two years. The contrasting trends indicate that while subscriptions are under pressure, certain product categories continue to thrive within Amazon's ecosystem.
The Rise of Retail Media Networks
The podcast discusses the growing significance of retail media networks in the advertising landscape, with Walmart aiming to utilize its scale to create unique advertising opportunities for brands. Walmart Connect is positioned to engage consumers at crucial points in their shopping journey, seamlessly integrating both in-store and online experiences. With an expansive data set, Walmart provides insights that can enhance retailers' advertising efforts, showcasing the importance of innovative strategies in a competitive market. This evolution highlights the necessity for brands to explore new advertising avenues to effectively communicate with today's shoppers.
The Future of Walmart Plus Membership
Walmart Plus is experiencing significant growth and consumer satisfaction due to improvements in delivery services and value-added benefits. The introduction of partnerships, such as with Paramount Plus for streaming services, elevates the program's appeal to members. With a focus on enhancing delivery efficiency and ensuring customer satisfaction, Walmart is committed to enriching the membership experience. The positive response to these offerings reflects consumers' increasing preference for convenience and integrated shopping solutions in their retail experiences.
In our 400th episode, the CPG Guys are joined by Seth Dallaire, Chief Revenue Officer at Walmart. The episode was recorded at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Welcome back, since we last had you, Walmart connect, Walmart Data Ventures, and Walmart plus are on a great ride. If you look back at the last few years you’ve been here, do you feel the magic moment has arrived?
Walmart connect - growing every day in leaps and bounds, providing value everyday to brands. What’s the heartbeat of WMC, and why should brands continue to invest with you?
Walmart Luminate has now also been around a couple years. At General Mills, I was a big believer that we should used the outputs from the platforms for our everyday business - penetration, growth, share, etc. How are brands leveraging Walmart luminate?
Can you take us through the larger Walmart data ventures endeavor - what else does it involve, are there services that we are not discussing on the CPGGUYS?
On the people side, how do you ensure your teams are staying abreast of new technologies and trends in the industry? Inflation has challenged all of us - how are you helping brands to navigate it?
In store retail media - we have to discuss what’s next here. What do you offer and what’s next here? How are you delivering upper funnel out of platform capabilities for brands?
Walmart plus is also a few years in - how is it performing, are consumers excited to continue to leverage it - what’s in the works?
Lastly, we always ask - what’s next. What trends are you following and coaching Walmart on? What adoption curve are we at the edge of?
DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.
CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.
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