The Growing Competition Between Walmart and Amazon

In this podcast episode, the CEO of BetterAMS, Destiny Wachan, discusses the differences between Walmart and Amazon advertising. Despite early dismissals of Walmart as a competitor, the company has made significant investments in its advertising platforms, including Walmart Connect and the marketplace. While Amazon has opened up opportunities for third-party sellers, Walmart still prioritizes its One-P business, which focuses on first-party vendors who have been selling in stores for years. Walmart's advertising platform closely resembles Amazon's from six years ago, with keyword targeting, product targeting, and auto campaigns. However, Walmart's data and analytics are still inconsistent. Brands are starting to invest in Walmart to quickly gain reviews and improve organic rankings. The advertising budgets of larger vendors match or exceed what is spent on Amazon, while smaller sellers often allocate leftover budget to Walmart. Both platforms offer low barriers to entry and provide volume and CPC metrics for advertisers. Destiny suggests a 50/50 budget split for starting e-commerce advertisers, using Amazon's advanced targeting capabilities for maximum control and Walmart for gaining reviews and organic rank.