Walmart's Approach to Web3, Community and Innovation

[on-hold music] Welcome to another episode of 51 Insights. I'm very excited to have here Justin Bratton.

He's the head of brand marketing innovation at Walmart. Justin, welcome to 51 Insights. Thank you for having me. Excited to chat. Likewise. Likewise. So, uh, Justin, uh, Walmart is a retail giant.

It's the world's largest company by revenue, with about 600 billion in revenue in 2023. You're serving over 230 million clients.

You have over 10,000 stores in 20 countries worldwide, so really a retail behemoth, and I'm very excited to talk with you today about how you cons- uh, how you engage the next, um, next generation of consumers.

Yeah, of course.

Excited to chat further and, and talk about how the team really focuses on, you know, meeting customers where they are online, and we like to say meeting them outside of the traditional four walls of Walmart, and of course, by four walls I mean not just the store, but I mean the website and the app, but really leaning into emerging platforms and new technology to do that, and so excited to dive deeper into the work that the team does.

Yeah.

So as a, a first question, I would like to start off with something I hear a lot with the people I talk to, with the brands I, I talk to, um, and what we can observe in the market, that many of the consumer brands entered the space two or three years ago.

They started with NFT activations. They jumped on the metaverse hype, and a lot of them left the market again. They were disappointed by the meager results. They didn't generate the ROI they expected.

They didn't generate the sustained engagement they expected. What would you answer those brands? I think all of those brands will be back.

I think that they will embrace these emerging platforms and these new technologies in, in due time.

I think the way in which we've always talked about the work that we do is it's not so much that we're activating in the metaverse, but that we're creating brand destinations and meaningful experience that engage with the next generation of customers on platforms that they're spending their times, through mediums that are familiar to them, and really thinking about what comes next.

And so to us, it's not so much about the ROI today as much as it's about getting the learnings to be the smartest, most adaptive retailer for the future, so that as more and more consumers begin to embrace these platforms and new technologies, we are a leader, and we are set up to continue leading, and it becomes ROI positive medium for, for our enterprise.

Mm-hmm.

A, a lot of brand leaders today, uh, work for brands that still serve, uh, customers in their 40s, 50s, uh, that use traditional marketing channels like email, like phone, like traditional advertising channels online.

What would you say to those brand leaders? Why should they pay attention to Web3 and the metaverse? How could this be interesting for them?

Well, I mean, I think if you look back at Facebook, I joined Facebook when I was 18 in high school, and it was something that I wanted to be a part of because it felt new, and it felt like those in college were a part of something that was special.

And when I joined Facebook, my parents had no interest in participating on that medium.

My parents now spend more time on Facebook than I spend on Facebook, and so while, uh, emerging platforms and new technology might feel foreign and overwhelming to older millennials and, and other generations, it is something that they will embrace as it becomes more mainstream, easier to access, and so I don't think you can forget about these types of mediums.

I think that you have to find the right way to leverage these mediums to engage with the customers that you have for your brand or product. It's not a one-size-fits-all.

It's a how do we use this in a way that drives meaningful engagement for our customers, and if commerce is a part of it or if they're looking for an ROI metric, what are the things that you can do to get to a place where it becomes ROI positive?

I think forgetting it and not leaning into it is a complete miss. Mm-hmm. What's the most exciting consumer platform for you at the moment to engage next gen consumers?

I mean, I'm gonna be se- I'm gonna be selfish, and I'm gonna say I love what we're doing with Walmart Realm. I think Walmart Realm is an owned and operated immersive commerce destination.

It completely flips, uh, the way in which consumers are discovering products. It's inspirational, it's fantastical, but it is bringing consumers into a shopping experience that completely redefines what's possible.

And so, for example, with our current Walmart Realm iteration, we've got three social trends. Consumers are stepping inside of those social trends. One of them is called The Alternative.

It takes customers into the desert that brings to life this cowboy western gothic aesthetic, and it, of course, showcases all the products that you can buy at Walmart that fit that aesthetic, and those products are curated by an influencer.

And so it's completely changing this narrative around what commerce could be, and we're leaning into something that we believe is the future of commerce, and so I'm selfishly gonna say Walmart Realm.

But of course, there are platforms like Roblox that we're also active on that are just, I think, so impressive in terms of the community they have, the time spent that that community is spending on that platform, and how brands are leveraging that platform.

Of course, Walmart, but other brands as well.

And so selfishly, I'm gonna say Walmart Realm, but also give a nod to Roblox because I think it's a very special platform and, and one that's probably not gonna go away anytime soon. Mm-hmm.

Let's dive a deep bit deeper on, uh, Walmart M- Walmart Realm and, uh, untangle a bit. First question I have for that is, how- Do you create such an experience?

What's the process that you go through internally in a corporate like Walmart, uh, where you have so many hundreds, thousands of possibilities with those new technologies?

How do you nail it down and, and develop such an experience? I mean, it always starts with, with data and insights. Like, what are, what are the insights that are helping inform the why, the what, the how, the where?

And specifically with Walmart Realm, you know, the insight suggested that the next generation of consumers are looking to names and faces, so influencers and creators, for inspiration online.

When you start to take that insight and you mix it with what else that generation is, is, is sort of like using and leveraging, it's gaming.

And so when you combine social with gaming, it brings you to this place of immersive commerce where you're creating these beautiful virtual environments that are commerce enabled, that again shorten that distance between inspiration and commerce, and include gamification elements that drive deeper engagement with our brand in ways that we just can't do on a traditional website or can't do in a traditional brick-and-mortar location.

And so the insights drove the concept, and then the concept sort of evolved based on, well, what are the social trends that are top of mind for that next generation of consumers?

So partnering with our partners Pinterest and understanding, you know, what are they seeing on their, their platform and, and leveraging Pinterest Predicts to understand what it is that the next generation of consumers are searching for and pinning, and that led us to the three social trends that we featured in the experience.

That then helped inform the influencers and creators we partnered with. We partnered with our internal merchants to identify the products that are trending.

Our influencer and creator partners pick the products, so it really felt like a data and insight-driven experience that's just leaning into newness in terms of the technology that's possible.

Uh, and, and I think like that is what's made it so special. It's, it's very insight driven.

There's a lot of partnership management involved, but we've created something that has resonated really well with the next generation of consumers, and I'm excited to introduce some updates later this year that I think will continue to excite customers.

Mm-hmm. A, a lot of people, uh, say when, you know, brands build in worlds like Roblox, that you, you can't really like measure ROI, uh, except for engagement.

What, what KPIs do you look for when you create worlds and experiences like this? Is it engagement? Is it cr- generating revenue? What, what's your most important KPI for those? Yeah.

You know, for us it, it is really about, it is about engagement today, right?

Like it's, it's really about showing up on a platform early, and as that platform continues to evolve and grow and changes how brands are leveraging their platform and engaging with their community, it's really important for us to be active and to have established a relationship with that community that feels really meaningful.

And so by showing up early, by also leveraging insights to create, uh, a meaningful brand destination on that platform, that destination being Walmart Discovered, you know, we were fortunate enough to be the first brand to introduce real world commerce on Roblox.

It's a pilot. It's a test. It's still in its infancy.

But by showing up early, by partnering with Roblox, by leveraging the community to inform what we do, it gave us that opportunity to introduce real world commerce on that platform so that we have learnings early to inform a scaled future commerce approach on that platform that no one else is gonna have.

And those learnings are incredibly valuable, and I would say that will get us to an ROI positive place when commerce becomes more mainstream on that platform.

And so for us, it's first and foremost about engagement, shifting perception, and building a relationship with that next generation of consumers, but it's, we're not losing sight of the fact that we do want this to be an ROI positive platform in the future, but we don't want it to be solely based on commercial efforts.

It should be about- Mm-hmm... engagement.

It should be about building a relationship, because that's the expectation of that generation, and we need to make sure that we're meeting them where they are, but we're also meeting their expectations so that when they are making a purchase decision, we're top of mind.

Mm-hmm. You, you talked about generating insights to inform your decisions on the platform- Mm-hmm... itself.

How important are those insights to inform your decisions when it comes to different experiences on other platforms or even physical products that you wanna bring into your product portfolio?

Yeah, I mean, we are always leveraging data and insights to inform what we do because it, it gives us the validation that we are doing something that it's not just a lick of the finger and which way is the wind blowing, but it's truly based on like a need of the community or a specific insight on the platform.

For an example of that is with Walmart Discovered on Roblox, we identified the fact that, you know, discovery on that platform's really hard, and it's hard because there are so many experiences, there are so many virtual items that are available, which is fantastic because it means that discovery is limitless.

But we've created something that takes that insight and has created an immersive brand destination that's focused on a more gamified discovery experience.

And the items that you're discovering in Walmart Discovered are from that long list of experiences, that long list of virtual items, but they're also curated by the community.

So we've created a destination that delivers on this insight of a more immersive, gamified discovery experience, but also the things that you're discovering are chosen by members of the community that you're a part of.

So it almost goes back to that insight I shared with Walmart Realm, which is that we know this g- next generation is looking to the names and faces of people online, influencers and creators, for inspiration.

We're doing exactly that in Roblox, but we're doing it for that particular platform and that particular community.

So what's surfacing to them are the experiences and items that they want on that platform, and that is getting them to think of Walmart as a digital destination.

That translates to the real world, so they'll think of Walmart as a digital destination for deodorant or a sweater, whatever it may be.

And so there's value, again, in showing up in a meaningful way, building that relationship, and, and, and hopefully, again, it translates to the real world.

And so the insights I think are incredibly important to make sure that whatever it is that you're doing feels really meaningful and additive, and is specific to your brand and what you can provide to that community and platform.

Mm-hmm. You talked a lot about communities, communities on different platforms, communities on Roblox, communities for Walmart. What does community mean to you?

How important is it for that next-generation consumer, and why is that important? Yeah, I mean... Yeah, it's a great question, and, and Walmart is at the heart of so many communities around the, the globe.

I mean, I think that the, the contributions that Walmart makes to the communities that they're in often is, is overshadowed by, I think, a lot of the bigger work that we do, but Walmart is for communities and is in communities and, and that's really important as we think about bringing our brand into these emerging platforms and, and how we're leveraging new technology.

One of my biggest learnings as we've embraced platforms like Roblox and as we explore other platforms is that we're not looking to connect with audiences, but we're looking to connect with communities.

These are people that are very passionate about the platform that they are on. They're very passionate about the experiences and games that they're playing daily.

And so the way that we always talk about connecting with that community is through the lens of community. It is not about targeting an audience. It's not about segmenting an audience.

It is about creating something that feels by and for the community, and that is consistent in all that we do as it relates to emerging experiences and new technology. Another example is the Culture Verse.

We launched the Culture Verse on Spatial last year.

That was all about empowering Black and brown creators to feel as though they had a voice that was driven by the insight that Black and brown creators are underrepresented in new technology, but created an experience that was by and for that community, and drove meaningful engagement in a way that they likely never expected a brand like Walmart to do.

And so community is at the heart of what we do, and it's why we talk about community in such a consistent and persistent way. Mm-hmm.

When we dive a little bit de- deeper here, I think o- one of the things that's interesting is how, uh, Web3 brands, but also traditional consumer brands, use communities to build their brand. Mm-hmm.

Uh, and, uh, one of the, the great examples from the Web3 space is Pudgy Penguins, who started with a NFT collection, built a very tight community, and now building up a global IP brand driven by that community, who has a stake in the project, who is financially incentivized to do that,

as a kind of blueprint of how you build up a brand in a community-led way. How do you see this model translating to traditional consumer brands like Walmart, and how do you build up community?

Yeah, I think the Pudgy Penguin example's a great one, and I'm sure you're, you're aware of the fact that Walmart is a, a retailer of Pudgy Penguins.

So you can, of course, buy Pudgy Penguin items at Walmart, and of course, be a part of that community, which is great.

You know, I think that the, the component of community is gonna continue to grow and grow, and, and the way in which brands are building communities and engaging with communities is probably gonna evolve.

I think that there will be a rise in new platforms that are focused on building community, where you are having brands show up and build community around specific interests.

I think an example for us is, you know, we're leveraging Discord to support our efforts on Roblox, so we have a Discord dedicated to Walmart Discovered.

It is a Discord with 34,000 active members, and they are connecting with one another to talk about what's happening in Walmart Discovered. They're nominating experiences and virtual items to be featured.

But that's a very specialized community that's focused on a brand destination that's Walmart has built. As we think about leveraging community in other work streams, how does community play into Walmart Realm?

How does community play into other platform expansions? How does community become how we talk about our membership program at Walmart?

I think the notion of community is, is not new, but it is something that is probably gonna become more and more prevalent as brands think about how to engage with consumers in more meaningful ways.

And sometimes that means thinking about them as a community and not just an audience or segment of a broader customer base. Mm-hmm.

And now something I would like to talk with you about is, is of course, Web3 and NFTs and blockchain. We're now, uh, 16 minutes into the show.

We haven't, uh, spoken about that, which is a sign to me that probably it lost a little bit of relevance when it comes to consumer engagement.

But I wanna ask you, when you see all those consumer brands that jumped on this NFT hype two or three years ago, that experimented with blockchain, with digital collectibles, even building up communities around digital collectibles, loyalty programs,

whatever you see in the market, how do you look on those trends, and how do you make sure that you don't, don't just drink the Kool-Aid in your position and to do actually the right things that make sense for Walmart?

I think it stems from this notion of starting with insights and data. And understanding the communities that you want to engage with and, and really what the opportunity for Walmart is.

And while we're focused on the now, we never lose sight of the future. So for example, with Walmart Realm, Walmart Realm is an immersive commerce experience. It is virtual, it is 360 degrees.

You are stepping inside these social trends in ways that you never thought you could step inside social trends before.

It is a web-based experience, so you can ac- you can access Walmart Realm with your desktop, your mobile device, but it is, it is built so that in the future when more and more consumers have headsets or wearables, we can enable Walmart Realm to be accessed on Apple Vision Pro, the Oculus.

But we're not doing that out of the, out of the gate because we want this technology to be accessible to everybody.

Because by being accessible to everybody, we are getting enough learnings to inform how do we optimize this for a future state where Walmart Realm can be accessed via a headset or a wearable.

And so we, of course, explored various crypto and NFT solutions, but as it related to the broader ecosystem of what was being described as Web3 and the metaverse at the time, what made sense for us was activating on Roblox and using that as our stepping stone to test and learn, and that has helped inform the Cultureverse, that has helped inform Walmart Realm.

There's more to come. And so this notion of testing and learning and using insights to inform what to test has been really beneficial in how we approach this new space. Mm-hmm.

You s- you now specifically mentioned Roblox. W- can you, can we dive a bit deeper in, in the activations you did in, in Roblox?

I, uh, uh, you, you know, you did Walmart Discovered, you, you did other Roblox activations. You were nominated for a Roblox, uh, I think Creator Award, was it?

How did you approach this platform, and what was, were some of your key learnings during that process? Yeah. So we first, uh, launched with Walmart Land and Universe of Play in September of 2022.

That was sort of our first foray onto the Roblox platform, and our approach was to create something that felt inspirational and fantastical and big.

And so our approach was what is popular on the platform, and how do we create something that leverages what we know and are seeing being plat- being popular on the platform, which at the time on paper reads really right.

It sounds really impressive and exciting, and as we were going through the development phase, like, it was looking beautiful and inspirational and fantastical, and quite frankly, it was new to me, so it was cool.

It was different and exciting, but I think what we learned is that sometimes it's better to do one thing great versus a lot of things only okay.

And so some of the things that we introduced into the experience were, for example, an obby, and our obby took larger-than-life beauty products and allowed for consumers to, you know, to, to, to navigate these beauty products in this sort of obby or obstacle course experience.

And it was a great way for us to showcase this, these Gen Z beauty brands available at Walmart on a platform that we know this generation is spending their time, and positioning it in a way that made it fun to engage with and, and hopefully, again, gave them awareness of the fact that Walmart's a destination for these types of products, which maybe they didn't know before.

But the obby wasn't the best obby, and so you might have played it once, but not twice. And so our biggest learning was it's better to be good at one thing versus, again, just doing everything only okay.

And so with Walmart Land, we basically saw the vision through its, its end and, and learned that, like, there's an opportunity to find the right insight that really makes sense for Walmart, and that insight was really around discovery.

And that led us to Walmart Discovered and creating something that delivered on this notion of Walmart is a place that has everything, but we also have your thing.

And so how do we take that real world notion of we have everything, but we have your thing, and create a destination that is exactly that for that platform and for that community.

So as I said earlier, Walmart Discovered is all about discovery or discovering experiences and virtual items. You come into this experience not to find everything, but to find your thing.

And so we learned a lot with Walmart Land, we learned a lot with Universe of Play, and Walmart Discovered, I would say, is, is sort of like taking our learnings and, and putting it into practice to create something that's meaningful and does one thing really well, which is discovery.

Mm-hmm. Let's have also a look into the future and talk about, you know, all those emerging technologies and trends that are, uh, coming your way. Uh, I mean, we saw the rise of, of generative AI in the last two years.

We see blockchain, we see AR, VR experiences, Apple Vision Pro. We see gaming platforms. When you look at that ecosystem of technologies out there, w- how do you think about that?

How does that come together for you, and how do you, do you prioritize and approach what you're focusing on at Walmart? Yeah.

I mean, there are a lot of, there are a lot of smart people at Walmart that are leveraging various technologies and platforms to understand, like, the future of these platforms and technologies for the Walmart customer.

So there are various AR technologies that are integrated directly into walmart.com that allow for consumers and customers to see various home items in their home leveraging this AR technology.

That to me is something that's probably gonna continue to grow in usage and popularity because it gives customers the confidence to make purchases digitally, specifically when you're making a

Large purchase, for example, a couch or a bed or a dresser, seeing it in your space might give you that confidence to make that purchase digitally.

I think platforms that have existing communities, like a Roblox and a Minecraft and a Fortnite, are gonna continue to be relevant and important for brands to be on and active on because to me, they are the evolution of social media.

They are where the next generation of consumers are spending their time. It's where they're socializing. They're going to virtual concerts. They're gonna be shopping.

You know, again, we were the first brand to launch real-world commerce on Roblox. I think that they're the first platform to embrace it. They won't be the last.

And so we're actively looking at where we can expand from a platform standpoint to continue to build communities and engage with these communities in meaningful ways, but there are probably technologies that we don't even know about yet that might be the next big thing that we embrace next year or the year after, where we can engage with customers meaningfully, add value to the way in which they shop with us, and, and hopefully it, it just continues to position Walmart as the most adaptive retailer in the world.

As a last question, what are some specific tips that you would give to other corporate leaders if they want to engage a younger audience? What platforms, what expertise- Mm-hmm... what internal processes do they need?

I mean, I think first and foremost, like, be willing to take risks, and be strategic and smart with the risks that you take.

I think what has enabled us to take the risks that we've taken is that with everything we do, we've had a clear insight. We've had a very specific learning agenda, so we've said, "This is what we hope to test.

This is what we hope to learn. These are how, this is how we plan to use these learnings in the future, and this is the f- this is what we think these learnings will, will help drive."

And of course, in some instances, those learnings are to drive commerce on platforms where commerce doesn't exist today. Roblox is a great example. When we launched on Roblox in 2022, commerce wasn't an option.

It is today. And so you can't lose sight of the fact that something that doesn't exist today doesn't mean it's not gonna come.

And so be willing to take risks, be smart about the risks that you take, create a test and learn strategy or that learning agenda, as I mentioned, and really think about the now, but also the future.

I think platforms that brands should be 100% activating on include Roblox. I think that that's a platform that many brands are active on. There are many ways in.

You don't have to do what Walmart did by creating a brand destination. You can partner with creators. You can integrate into experiences.

But that's a place where 77 million daily active users are spending an average of two hours per day on the platform.

It's important to be there, and it's important to, to get your brand in front of that next generation of consumer.

And so that's one I would say if you walk away from this and say, "What's the one platform we should be on?" I would say Roblox.

Um, and there are other platforms that are, are on the rise as well, some of which we're still familiarizing ourselves with. But again, there's more to come from Walmart, and I'm excited for everyone to see it.

Yeah, excited as well. Uh, Justin, we're almost at the end of the show. To end, I would like to do a short, uh, lightning round with a couple of short questions.

Uh, starting right off, first one, your favorite product you'll find at Walmart. Ooh, that's a great question.

I just bought a tumbler, um, that's, like, very large, and it's my favorite product because I don't drink enough water, and so it helps ensure that I drink water, and my skin stays nice and elastic.

[laughs] Uh, so I'm gonna say the tumbler because I've been using it a lot. Okay, second question. Virtual immersive commerce or blockchain, what excites you more? Immersive commerce. Physical store or virtual shopping?

Oh, that's a really good question. I am going to say, I'm gonna s- I'm gonna say the physical store because I like to touch things.

But I think that if you asked me that in a year, my answer would probably change. Um, but I'm gonna say the physical store for this answer. Probably an unexpected answer. [laughs] Okay.

Uh, fourth, the biggest trend among next gen consumers.

Um, I think virtual avatars and virtual fashion, just this rise in consumers using their avatars f- for, as a form of self-expression and self-identity, and platforms like Zepeto and Roblox continuing to grow.

I think that there's gonna be a continued, uh, level of interest in online self-expression and self-identity, and I think it's gonna be through the lens of avatars.

Something most retail brands get wrong about consumer engagement. That it's not an ROI positive type of metric. Mm-hmm. The biggest transformation in retail in the next 10 years. Virtual shopping.

One book everyone in retail should read, or outside of retail. Ooh. Oh my gosh. I read on a Kindle, so, like, I can never remember the names of the books that I read.

I do read, but I can never remember the names of the books.

[laughs] Um, Sam Walton has a book that's really, it's, it's really, um, inspiring, and it gives you a sense of the history of Walmart and sort of like why Walmart puts such an emphasis on the customer and why the customer's always right, um, and the customer is, is your boss.

And so I, I would say that's probably a really good book for any business leader to read. Okay.

And last question, what do you see as the biggest opportunity when it comes to consumer engagement, whether it's Web3, metaverse, immersive experiences in the next couple of years?

I think probably immersive experiences, immersive commerce, whether it be on platforms like Roblox or in partnership with technologies like Emperia- Um, I think that there is going to be a increase in the way in which consumers can experience immersive commerce experiences, both on platforms like Roblox or in experiences powered by technologies like Imperia, where the entry point for brands to create immersive commerce experiences is going to be much easier, and where those immersive commerce experiences show up will be widespread.

So not platform specific, but will be potentially on websites, um, will be through wearables and headsets. I think it's, it's...

I think we're just scratching the surface of what's possible with immersive commerce and virtual experiences. Mm-hmm. All right. We're already at the end of the show.

Justin, it was a real pleasure to have you here today. Really interesting insights. Thank you for coming. Where can f- people find more about you and Walmart? I, yeah, I, I mean, follow me on LinkedIn.

I, I'm often sharing some of the great work that the team is doing. It's a great source to see what's new if you're not seeing it elsewhere.

I'm on Twitter, I'm on Instagram, I'm on all the socials, but LinkedIn is where you can sort of keep up with what's happening from the team. All right. Perfect. Thank you for tuning in.

If you like it, uh, r- subscribe, repost, and share with friends. It keeps the show running. And Justin, again, thanks for coming. Thank you. And all the best. Thank you so much. Great to meet you.

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