The Most Underrated Tool in Walmart Advertising Is Not What You Think
Ask most suppliers and sellers how they think about Walmart advertising and you will hear a familiar answer.
Sponsored Products.
Sponsored Brands.
Maybe a premium placement if budgets allow.
That approach makes sense. Walmart Connect is where demand is captured, and for many suppliers and sellers it delivers strong, efficient returns. But there is one part of Walmart’s advertising ecosystem that continues to be misunderstood and underused.
Walmart DSP.
Most people hear the word “DSP” and immediately think banner ads. Generic display. Awareness impressions that look fine in a report but feel disconnected from real business outcomes.
That assumption is wrong. And for suppliers and sellers doing meaningful volume on Walmart, it is quietly limiting growth.
Why Walmart DSP Gets Overlooked
The issue is not the platform. It is the mental model.
DSP has historically been framed as an upper funnel channel. Something used to drive reach rather than performance. Something that lives outside a core commerce strategy.
Walmart DSP operates differently.
It is not built around placements. It is built around audiences, powered by Walmart’s first-party shopper and transaction data. That distinction changes what suppliers and sellers can do, how success is measured, and where DSP fits into a modern Walmart media strategy.
What Walmart DSP Actually Does
At a fundamental level, Walmart DSP allows suppliers and sellers to buy media based on who they want to reach rather than which keywords they want to bid on.
Instead of optimizing around search terms, audiences are activated based on real behavior. What shoppers purchased. What they viewed. What they added to cart. How recently they converted. In many cases, whether they purchased online or in store.
That unlocks capabilities that are simply not available inside Walmart Connect alone.
Capabilities Search Alone Cannot Deliver
One of the most powerful features of Walmart DSP is customer file onboarding.
Suppliers and sellers can upload existing customer lists and build lookalike audiences made up of Walmart shoppers who behave like their best buyers. These audiences are not modeled on demographics or inferred interests. They are modeled on actual shopping behavior.
From there, recent purchasers can be suppressed, such as excluding shoppers who purchased within the last 30 days. This prevents wasted spend on customers who have already converted. This type of purchase-based suppression is not possible within Walmart Connect.
Walmart DSP also enables offsite retargeting tied directly to Walmart intent. If a shopper views a product or adds it to cart on Walmart but does not purchase, that shopper can be reached days later while browsing news sites, using mobile apps, or streaming content. That exposure is still measured against Walmart sales outcomes.
This is not generic programmatic advertising. It is Walmart-specific intent extended beyond Walmart’s owned properties.
Why Closed-Loop Measurement Changes Everything
This is where Walmart DSP truly stands apart.
Traditional DSPs optimize toward proxies like clicks or impressions. Walmart DSP can measure actual purchases.
Suppliers and sellers can run connected TV ads during premium programming and see which households went on to purchase their product. Not just online, but in store as well. Reporting connects exposure to transactions, store locations, and complementary purchases.
That level of closed-loop attribution is rare in digital advertising. It fundamentally changes how upper and mid funnel media should be evaluated. Instead of asking whether an ad generated engagement, suppliers and sellers can ask whether it generated revenue.
DSP’s Role in a Full Funnel Walmart Strategy
Many suppliers and sellers still treat Walmart primarily as a lower funnel channel. Capture demand. Defend share. Optimize return on ad spend.
Walmart DSP makes it possible to expand beyond that mindset.
It enables a full funnel strategy that mirrors what many teams already run on platforms like Meta or Google, with one important difference. Everything is anchored to Walmart’s purchase data.
Search captures existing intent. DSP helps create it, influence it, and reengage it. Together, they form a more complete system than either can deliver on its own.
Who Should Be Using Walmart DSP
This is not a recommendation for every supplier or seller to turn DSP on immediately.
Walmart DSP works best for those who already have traction on the platform. Suppliers and sellers with enough sales volume to support audience modeling. Teams that are ready to think beyond keyword efficiency and focus on incrementality, frequency, and lifetime value.
If Walmart is a meaningful part of your business and your media strategy begins and ends with search, you are likely overexposed to the same shoppers and underinvested in finding the next ones.
The Cost of Ignoring It
The biggest risk is not that Walmart DSP will fail to perform. It is that many suppliers and sellers never test it at all.
When Walmart is treated only as a place to harvest existing demand, competitors gain the opportunity to influence shoppers earlier in the journey. By the time someone reaches the search bar, many decisions have already been made.
Walmart DSP is not just another ad format. It is the connective layer between awareness, consideration, and purchase, all tied back to real commerce outcomes.
If you are serious about scaling on Walmart, it deserves more than a passing glance.
Michael Lebhar
Michael Lebhar is the Co-Founder and CEO of SellCord, a leading full-service agency dedicated to helping brands succeed on Walmart Marketplace. His work at SellCord is focused on building the strategies, systems, and support structures that allow brands to grow predictably and profitably on the world’s largest retailer.
Under Michael’s leadership, SellCord has become a trusted partner for hundreds of emerging and established brands. The agency provides hands-on expertise across product listing optimization, catalog and operations management, advertising, and overall marketplace strategy. Michael directs SellCord’s approach to client success, which centers on deep platform knowledge, operational reliability, and long-term visibility planning—three areas that consistently determine performance on Walmart.com.