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Reviewed and published by trentmaziarz, March 22, 2026. Discovered and drafted by our automated research pipeline.
Walmart Connect is Walmart's advertising business, and it uses AI to decide which ads to show which shoppers, automatically optimize how much advertisers pay per click, and help brands build and manage their campaigns through a conversational assistant. The platform grew 53% year-over-year in advertising revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026.
Details
Walmart Connect (formerly Walmart Media Group, rebranded in 2021) is one of the fastest-growing retail media networks in the U.S. At CES 2026 in January 2026, Walmart announced an AI advertising assistant called Marty — one of its four enterprise-wide "super agents" — that allows advertisers to build, optimize, and troubleshoot campaigns through a chat interface. Marty was in beta for Sponsored Search campaigns and can provide bidding, keyword, and billing recommendations. Walmart also began testing ads placed directly inside the Sparky shopping assistant in fall 2025. The December 2024 acquisition of Vizio for $2.2 billion extended Walmart Connect's reach to connected TV advertising.
Products affected
Walmart.com Sponsored SearchSponsored ProductsOnsite DisplayBrand ShopsConnected TV (via Vizio)in-store digital screens
Sources & Evidence
News Article
Other practices by Walmart
OtherWalmart is piloting an AI tool that simulates a job interview for candidates applying to work at the company. It walks applicants through up to 10 practice questions, scores each response on a scale of 1 to 10, and gives instant feedback on how clearly and confidently the person answered. The pilot began in June 2025 with current Walmart employees and was planned to expand to all applicants.OtherWalmart delivers orders using drones and self-driving trucks that operate without a human driver. Drone delivery is available near 270-plus Walmart stores and is on track to reach 40 million Americans. In 2021, Walmart and an autonomous trucking company called Gatik completed the world's first fully driverless commercial delivery route, with no safety driver in the cab.OtherWalmart uses AI software to plan the most efficient routes for its delivery trucks, figure out how to pack trailers to minimize wasted space, and cut unnecessary miles from its logistics network. Walmart says this eliminated 30 million unnecessary miles and avoided 94 million pounds of CO₂ emissions. The company now sells this same routing technology to other businesses as a commercial software product.
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