Walmart might not be at the same level as Amazon (yet?), but it still represents a strong selling choice for online retailers. One way you can target shoppers is through Walmart Performance Ads, which are an excellent way of boosting visibility and increasing sales. To hit the ground running, RepricerExpress will help you get started with all the basics you need to know.
How Walmart Performance Ads Work
Walmart Performance Ads (WPA) are similar to Amazon Sponsored Product Ads, so if you’re familiar with how Amazon’s work, you’ll have a general basic idea of how Walmart’s work. They’re pay-per-click ads that show your listings in places where people type in relevant and/or related search terms.
However, there are several key differences:
- Eligibility: Currently, WPA is not sign-up accessible, as Walmart will select sellers it thinks can really take the ads a great distance and bring back revenue to the marketplace. You have to meet strict performance criteria and request access, but even that’s not guaranteed.
- Keywords: One thing that’s noticeably lacking with WPA is the ability to use negative keywords, but that’s a feature that should be implemented by year’s end.
- Budget: Be prepared to spend. WPA requires your minimum daily budget to be at least $100, and your total campaign a minimum of $1,000. If that seems like a bit of a shock, it’s probably because you’re used to Amazon’s $1 daily minimum.
- Keyword Bidding: You can only bid at the campaign level, creating a list of products (30-50 is a good place to start) and keywords to go with it. You do lose a bit of autonomy, as Walmart will select what it thinks is the most relevant product that matches the winning bid and will display an ad for that product.
- Type: If you’re coming from Amazon, you’ll notice fewer options for ad placement. You can choose between catapults (products at the tops of secondary category pages), native banners (headline banners on primary category pages) or site search (landing page within the site, usually your branding page).
Benefits of Using WPA
If you’re unsure about whether to invest in WPA, there are several advantages in doing so that may change your mind.
- Visibility: Walmart is a big And although it doesn’t quite have the same superstar selling power that Amazon does online, it’d be a mistake to discount them. Like Amazon, they offer two-day shipping and a substantial amount of potential shoppers (how does 100+ million each month sound to you?)
- Short Learning Curve: The positive way of looking at three types of WPA is that there’s a short learning curve to using the ads, making it simple and straightforward to get started. You can choose between manual or automatic.
- Manual: You choose the keywords from a list Walmart provides, and they’ll come back to you with a keyword suggestion tool you can use to refine your keyword selection (you get a maximum of 220 keywords) to add to your campaign.
- Automatic: Based on keyword matches from the product title, description and other areas of the listing, Walmart will select when to display your products and return a list of the search terms that led to a conversion.
- Increasing New Product Launch Success: One of the trickiest things to do is successfully launch a new product, but WPA can help with that a great deal. You’ll get quick and regular feedback on how a new product is doing and what keywords are being used for it, letting you test out new items before committing to them long-term.
- Seasonal Campaigns: If you want to maximise your seasonal earnings, then using WPA is one of the most direct ways of getting there. More and more buyers are shopping online, and digital ads get you visibility at precisely the right time.
How to Set Up WPA
There are yes-or-no guidelines on how to do WPA banner ads, so here’s what you need to know to get it right the first time.
- Sizes: They can be one of three sizes (300×250, 728×90, 160×600).
- Logos: The Walmart logo will be in there with yours, but make sure to pad some spacing between the two so they’re not crowded together.
- Spacing: When setting up the Walmart logo, use a safety space of 12px to the right and bottom and a safety space of 12px from its edge (300×250) or safety space of 12px to the right and safety space of 2px from the bottom and edge (728×90, 160×600).
- Design: Don’t apply any glows or filters or effects to the Walmart logo and don’t let it dominate the ad, and don’t put in any other retailer’s name in the ad.
- Linking: When linking, make sure the product link matches the product in the ad. You can read more about Walmart’s guidelines here.
Final Thoughts
WPA can be a great way to boost visibility, traffic and conversions, but make sure you learn its nuances and do things right. Another tip is to implement two-day shipping to land even more sales. If you’re more of an Amazon ads kind of seller, then RepricerExpress can help you with aggressively setting the best prices so you can study up on beating the competition in other ways. All you have to do is sign up now, and we’ll kick in a free trial to get you started.
