Every marketer knows: retail media isn’t slowing down, it’s evolving. So why are you focusing all your strategic efforts on your tried-and-true retail media networks? We get it: Amazon continues to dominate the conversation, and tried and true platforms are just that. But brands that want sustainable growth heading into the holiday season need to think beyond a single platform.
And at Code3, we’re seeing Walmart Connect proving it deserves a much larger role in modern retail media strategies.
As the second-largest retail media network in the U.S. and the fastest-growing scaled player in the space, Walmart Connect has quickly become one of the most strategic opportunities for brands looking to diversify spend, expand reach, and drive measurable sales impact.
With holiday planning already underway, now is the time for brands to evaluate whether Walmart Connect has a meaningful role in their Q4 strategy. But if you ask us, increasingly, the answer is yes.
Walmart Connect Is Growing Faster Than Retail Itself
Walmart Connect’s momentum is impossible to ignore. Walmart reports that Connect ad revenue reached $6.4 billion in 2025, representing +46% year-over-year growth: roughly six times faster than Walmart’s retail sales growth.
That matters because it signals more than platform expansion. It reflects:
- Increased advertiser adoption
- Growing shopper engagement
- Expanded inventory and targeting capabilities
- More mature measurement solutions
- Greater confidence from enterprise brands
At scale, Walmart Connect is one of the only retail media networks genuinely gaining ground in a category long dominated by Amazon. For brands, that creates opportunity.
Diversification Matters More Than Ever
Many brands still treat retail media as synonymous with Amazon. But relying too heavily on a single platform creates risk, especially during peak shopping periods when competition, CPCs, and operational pressure intensify. Heading into the holiday season, shoppers are actively comparing prices, products, and convenience across retailers. If your brand only shows up in one ecosystem, you’re giving competitors more opportunities to win the sale elsewhere.
Walmart Connect gives brands a credible alternative at scale. Amazon still controls the majority of U.S. retail media spend, but Walmart offers something increasingly valuable: incremental reach and audience diversification.
That’s especially important during the holiday season, when brands are fighting for visibility across every stage of the purchase journey. A diversified retail media strategy can help brands:
- Reach shoppers outside of Amazon’s ecosystem
- Reduce dependence on rising Amazon media costs
- Capture incremental household penetration
- Build resiliency across retail channels
- Improve omnichannel visibility during key shopping moments
The brands that win in Q4 are rarely the ones overinvested in a single channel. They’re the ones building connected strategies across multiple retail environments.
Walmart’s Audience Is Different….And Valuable
One of Walmart Connect’s biggest strategic advantages is its shopper base. Walmart reaches approximately 150 million weekly shoppers across Walmart.com and 4,600+ stores. But scale alone isn’t the story.
Walmart over-indexes with:
- Value-conscious consumers
- Grocery-led households
- Suburban families
- Budget-aware holiday shoppers
In today’s economic environment, those audiences matter. Holiday shoppers are expected to remain price sensitive this year, making Walmart’s value positioning especially relevant.
Consumers are actively looking for:
- Competitive pricing
- One-stop shopping convenience
- Grocery and general merchandise consolidation
- Pickup and delivery flexibility
For brands, Walmart Connect offers access to highly purchase-ready shoppers during moments of real buying intent.
Omnichannel Reach Is a Major Differentiator
Unlike some retail media networks that remain heavily digital-first, Walmart Connect is inherently omnichannel.
Brands can activate across:
- Walmart.com
- Walmart app
- In-store media
- Vizio CTV inventory
- 170,000+ in-store screens
That matters because holiday shopping behavior is fragmented. Now more than ever, consumers move fluidly between:
- Online research
- Mobile browsing
- In-store purchasing
- Streaming content consumption
- Same-day fulfillment options
Walmart Connect allows brands to stay visible across those touchpoints while tying exposure back to real purchase behavior through closed-loop measurement. For brands trying to connect upper-funnel awareness with lower-funnel conversion, that’s a meaningful advantage.
Why Brands Should Prioritize Walmart Connect Before Holiday Peak
The brands seeing the strongest performance during peak season are typically the ones that planned early, not the ones scrambling in November.
Building a Walmart Connect strategy now allows brands to:
- Establish baseline performance before holiday traffic surges
- Test creative and audience strategies
- Build keyword and audience learnings
- Optimize PDPs and retail readiness
- Improve measurement frameworks ahead of peak demand
Waiting until Q4 often means:
- Higher competition
- More expensive media
- Less testing runway
- Slower optimization cycles
The earlier brands operationalize Walmart Connect, the more efficiently they can scale when holiday traffic spikes.
Actionable Next Steps for Brands
If Walmart Connect isn’t currently a meaningful part of your media strategy, now is the time to evaluate where it fits. Here are the first steps brands should take:
1. Audit Your Walmart Retail Readiness
Before scaling media, make sure the fundamentals are in place:
- PDP optimization
- Strong content and imagery
- Inventory stability
- Ratings and reviews
- Competitive pricing
- Fulfillment readiness
Retail media works best when the product experience is conversion-ready.
2. Identify Incremental Audience Opportunities
Look at where Walmart’s shopper base complements your existing Amazon or DTC strategy.
Ask:
- Are you over-indexed toward one retail ecosystem?
- Are there household segments you’re missing?
- Could Walmart help drive incremental reach?
This is especially important for CPG, grocery, household essentials, beauty, and family-focused brands.
3. Build an Omnichannel Holiday Strategy
Don’t think about Walmart Connect as just sponsored search. Consider how to connect:
- Search
- Display
- CTV
- In-store media
- Seasonal campaigns
- Audience retargeting
Holiday shoppers rarely convert through a single touchpoint.
4. Start Testing Before Peak Season
Brands that wait until November lose valuable optimization time. Start now by:
- Testing keyword strategies
- Benchmarking ROAS
- Evaluating audience performance
- Measuring incrementality
- Refining creative messaging
The goal is to enter Q4 with data-backed confidence.
5. Align Media With Broader Retail Strategy
Walmart Connect performs best when integrated with:
- Merchandising
- Promotions
- Inventory planning
- Category strategy
- Seasonal forecasting
Retail media cannot operate in a silo during peak season.
The Bottom Line
Walmart Connect is no longer an emerging channel brands can afford to ignore. It’s a scaled, fast-growing retail media network with:
- Massive shopper reach
- Strong first-party data
- Omnichannel activation
- Closed-loop measurement
- Incremental audience access
And as holiday competition intensifies, brands that diversify beyond Amazon and invest in broader retail media ecosystems will be better positioned to capture demand where shoppers are actually making decisions. The question is no longer whether Walmart Connect belongs in the plan: it’s whether brands can afford to leave it out.