Walmart Unveils Digital Landscapes: Revolutionizing Online Shopper Insights

Led by industry veteran Mark Hardy of Walmart Data Ventures, our guess was that the launch was a strong indicator of an acceleration of a trend we had called out for years: companies with access to audiences and unique data leveraging them directly to create new value-added assets for their key partners and stakeholders that other research suppliers would be challenged to match. 

As Mark said in a recent press release, “At Walmart Data Ventures, our mission is to become a global leader in insights and analytics … this will be a phased launch, starting with Shopper Behavior followed by Channel Performance and Customer Perception”, leaving little doubt on their objectives.

Recent announcements related to their ongoing global expansion and integration with Walmart Connect platform were evidence that the vision Mark laid out was proceeding apace.  Today, Walmart Data Ventures is announcing Digital Landscapes, a new self-service module in the Walmart Luminate suite that reveals insights into the digital behaviors of online Walmart shoppers.

For Walmart Luminate, the need for this newest addition to the platform is clear: “One of the biggest questions for suppliers is: how do customers find their products online? It’s a big question made more accessible with insights from Walmart Luminate Digital Landscapes.

Walmart now offers one of the most comprehensive consumer journey solutions, based on omnichannel behavioral data with full attribution, on the market today.

Digital Landscapes fills in the gaps at the beginning of the customer journey. Pre-purchase behavioral data powered by Walmart.com and the Walmart mobile app lends new insights and an earlier perspective around how customers find, consider, and choose products. Suppliers can learn even more about how shoppers find their products before making a purchase decision with insights including:

• Where shoppers start their journey to find their products
• When they find a supplier’s products
• How a supplier’s product compares to others in the category
• What a shopper’s path to purchase looks like”

In other words, Walmart now offers one of the most comprehensive consumer journey solutions, based on omnichannel behavioral data with full attribution, on the market today.

I had the chance to sit down with Mark Hardy last week to discuss their plans; stay tuned for a podcast interview on that soon where you’ll be able to hear from him first-hand. In the interim, I can tell you that their focus on becoming a global leader in insights and analytics is well thought out, robust, and very thorough.

There is no aspect of the research spectrum, from early-stage ideation through to in-market tracking and everything in between, that Walmart Luminate won’t be able to power through their own proprietary methodologies or an ecosystem of partners.

However, the real differentiator is their sample: due to their massive global reach of 1^st-party data and immense ability to target shopping behavior, media exposure, profile demographics, geographic reach, etc… they can get to virtually any population, validate they are real consumers, and enable doing away with many screener and profile questions.

Plus, with a built-in user base of millions of companies that sell through Walmart, they had an advantage that many other research suppliers will need to work hard to compete with.

The question now is how many other companies will follow suit. Amazon, LinkedIn, Google, Facebook, X, Coca-Cola, AT&T, and others have research offerings already; will they accelerate their development to be competitive with Walmart? Will other major retailers join the fray?

With the advent of AI pushing the world towards understanding the value of monetizing data assets while simultaneously looking at how to leverage data to deliver richer, more loyal, and personalized relationships with consumers, we expect the answer is yes. Understanding this rapidly changing marketplace dynamic will be key for insights & analytics organizations to adapt and thrive in the future. With that in mind, watch Walmart; they are the bellwether to pay attention to for now.

---

Read the full press release below

Better Data, Better Outcomes: Walmart Data Ventures Launches Digital Landscapes 

Digital Landscapes unlocks new insights to understand customers even better. 

As more customers are turning to Walmart.com and the Walmart app to find value, it's essential for suppliers to understand how they find and select products among a wide range of options. This naturally leads to questions: “How do customers find my product?” “How much time do customers spend browsing before making a purchase?” “When are customers most likely to shop online?” Getting answers helps provide customers with the right product, in the right place, at the right time. 
 
Today, Walmart Data Ventures is announcing the beta launch of Digital Landscapes, a new self-serve insights solution within Walmart Luminate that helps suppliers understand Walmart shoppers even better. Until now, suppliers were able to make decisions based on insights gathered after a purchase had been made. Now, with the ability to track online shopper behavior before a purchase, suppliers can explore new retail strategies to engage and drive consideration along the customer journey. 
 
With Digital Landscapes, suppliers can learn: 

• Where customers start their journey to find a product. 
• When customers find a product. 
• How a product compares to others in the category. 
• What a customer’s path to purchase looks like. 

These insights are particularly valuable for suppliers as they evaluate their marketing and sales strategies. By analyzing daily engagement trends and tracking sources that are driving traffic — from searches on Walmart.com and the Walmart mobile app to external search engines, social platforms and more – suppliers can better allocate their resources to help boost reach and improve the effectiveness of their campaigns. 

The launch of Digital Landscapes marks another significant stride for Walmart Data Ventures in its ambition to become a global leader in insights and analytics. By empowering suppliers to understand their customers at every step of the digital shopping journey and optimize their path to purchase, this new offering underscores Walmart’s commitment to delivering a better shopping experience for customers. 

Digital Landscapes will launch in beta on Wednesday, June 5, followed by general availability later this summer.