In this article, learn about:
Walmart promotions and ads
How to create promotions and ads
Which Marketplace metrics to track
Promotions on Walmart Marketplace are tools for sellers looking to boost product visibility, increase sales, and enhance search rankings. In this guide, we’ll dive into the various types of promotions available, outline the steps to set them up, and highlight key metrics to monitor for optimal performance.
How Do Walmart Marketplace Promotions Work?
Walmart's own in-store promotions use online and print advertisements, strategic product placements, and memorable slogans such as "Save Money, Live Better" and "Everyday Low Price" to highlight their commitment to affordability. These efforts are complemented by other marketing efforts, like social media campaigns, influencer marketing, and television advertisements.
For Walmart Marketplace, promotions function differently. Third-party sellers can employ promotion strategies to offer discounts on their products, enhance visibility, and improve sales. These promotions are typically labeled as "Reduced Price" or "Clearance," signaling to customers that items are available at discounted rates. Sellers can set up these promotions through the Seller Center by specifying details such as the promotion name, discount value, and duration. It should be noted that the Rollback labels on Walmart.com are only available for products sold by Walmart.
Related Reading: Three Pros and Cons of Selling on Walmart Marketplace
Types of Marketplace Promotions
Walmart Marketplace offers sellers several promotional pricing options. Understanding the available promotion types and their appropriate usage is crucial for effective marketing on the platform. When setting up a promotion on Seller Center, sellers can choose between Promo Type or Price Placement.
Promo Type
On Walmart.com, a Promo Type promotion can be identified by a flag that says Reduced Price or Clearance. A strikethrough will also appear over the original price (known as the Was Price or List Price).
Reduced Price Promotion
This promotion is appropriate for temporary price reductions lasting at least 14 days, commonly utilized during special merchandising events on Walmart.com. To qualify for a strikethrough price display, the promotional price must be at least 10% lower than the item's Was Price or List Price.
Clearance Promotion
This designation is used for items that have reached the end of their lifecycle or are being liquidated. Products marked as Clearance are placed in a special category on Walmart.com, aiding in the efficient movement of excess or discontinued inventory.
Price Placement
The other type of promotion, known as price placement, displays the reduced price only after the item is added to the cart or during the final stages of checkout. This format is used when the promotional price falls below the Minimum Advertised Price (MAP). Instead of showing the discount on the product listing page, Walmart reveals the lower price during checkout to stay compliant with MAP policies.
How to Set up Promotions in Seller Center
There are two methods for setting up a promotion in Seller Center, either using a promotion template from the Catalog or by using the Promotions dashboard within Pricing.
Method 1: Catalog
Step 1: Navigate to Catalog in Seller Center
Click Update items
Select Update with file
Step 2: Complete Template
After clicking Update with file, select Show Walmart Templates
Download the Price and Promotion template
In the Promo Setting Action column, select Create
Fill in SKU, promo price, and start/end dates
Step 3: Upload Template
Return to Update with file
Select Price and promotion from the dropdown
Drag and drop your file or click Browse to upload
Once you’ve completed these steps, the updates go live anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours.
Method 2: Promotions Dashboard
Step 1: Navigate to Promotions
Go to Seller Center
Under Pricing, click Promotions
Select Create promotion
Step 2: Create Promotion
Enter a Promotion name
Set Discount value (e.g., 5% off, $5 off)
Choose Strikethrough rule:
Percent off – % off all items in promotion group
Amount off – $ off all items in promotion group
Custom promo price – set individual prices per item in promotion group
Set Start/End dates and times
Step 3: Add Items to Promotion
Go back to Promotions page
Select your promotion
Click Assign items
To Add from Catalog:
Select From catalog in Assign items dropdown
Search by name or SKU
Promo price autofills (unless using custom pricing)
To Add from Template
Select Upload a spec file
Download and fill out the template
Upload complete template
You can view your active promotions via the Promotion Report or Promotions dashboard in Seller Center.
Restrictions on Promotions
There are some restrictions on Marketplace promotions that sellers must follow:
Promotional pricing is considered a temporary price reduction and must not exceed 180 days.
A promotion must have a start time at least four hours after its creation.
When deleting a promotion, the start and end dates/times must exactly match those of the existing promotion for deletion to be successful.
You can create multiple promotions for the same item by listing the same SKU on separate rows in your file. Ensure that the start and end dates for each promotion do not overlap.
Promotions are set at the item level. It's not possible to offer personalized deals or discounts to individual customers, as this violates the Marketplace Retailer Agreement.
Promotion updates can take up to four hours to publish. Upload your Price and Promotion template at least 24 hours before you want the promotion to begin.
All start and end times for promotions are in UTC, not your local time zone.
Price Incentives
Price incentives are another Walmart program designed to help Marketplace sellers stay competitive and boost sales. Rather than traditional promotions you manage directly, price incentives are more automated and involve Walmart either adjusting pricing on your behalf or offering you lower fees when you meet specific pricing goals.
There are two types of price incentives:
Walmart-Funded Incentives
In this case, Walmart reduces the item's price for customers—but you still receive your full asking price. Walmart covers the difference, making the item more attractive without impacting your margins. Items are automatically enrolled if they qualify, but sellers can opt out at the program or item level.
How to enroll: Eligible items are auto-enrolled in the program. However, you can opt out of Walmart-funded incentives if you don’t want to be included in the program.
How to manage items: If you want to participate in the program but want control over which items in your catalog are included, you can manage items individually (and in bulk) on the Incentives page in Seller Center.
Reduced Referral Fee Incentives
This option lowers the Referral Fee Walmart takes from your sale, as long as you keep the item priced at or below the suggested target price. The key benefit here is that if you price competitively, you can keep more revenue per sale. These incentives aren't automatic—you’ll need to manually enroll eligible items.
How to enroll: You must choose to enroll each eligible item individually. Walmart provides specific pricing recommendations for each item, along with an expiration date for the incentive. This can all be managed on the Incentives page in Seller Center.
Advertising on Walmart Marketplace
In 2021, Walmart launched Walmart Connect to provide advertising solutions tailored for both first-party suppliers and third-party Marketplace sellers. This platform offers a range of tools designed to boost product visibility, drive traffic, and increase conversions.
Walmart Connect offers 5 different advertising solutions, each of which serves a different function/purpose:
Sponsored Search
Sponsored Search ads help your products stand out when shoppers are actively looking for similar items on Walmart’s site or app. These ads appear in high-visibility spots like search results, item pages, and even the homepage. All three options listed below run on a cost-per-click (CPC) model, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad:
Sponsored Products: These ads promote individual listings and show up where customers are already shopping. You bid on keywords, and your ad placement is determined by how relevant your product is and how competitive your bid is.
Sponsored Brands: This premium placement shows your brand logo and a group of your products at the top of search results. It’s only available to Marketplace sellers who are registered brand owners through the Walmart Brand Portal.
Sponsored Videos: Video ads appear in search results and are designed to capture attention with eye-catching video content. They're great for boosting visibility and engagement.
Onsite Display
Onsite Display ads are eye-catching visuals that appear to targeted audiences to help drive awareness and engagement for your brand or products.
With a Walmart Onsite Display account, you can:
Bid on available ad space
Design your own creatives
Launch and manage campaigns with full control over your budget and pricing
These campaigns run on an eCPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) model, so you’re charged based on how many times your ad is seen—not clicked.
Walmart uses dynamic bidding to automatically adjust your bids based on campaign performance. And since it’s a first-price auction, the highest bidder wins and pays exactly their bid (but never more than what they’ve set as the max).
Brand Shop and Shelf
Brand Shop is your custom storefront on Walmart.com and the Walmart app, which serves as a dedicated space where you can showcase your brand and products. A Shelf is like a digital aisle that highlights a curated selection of your items, and it can be linked from your Brand Shop. Sellers can only have one Brand Shop live at a time; however, you can have an unlimited number of Shelves at a time.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Utilizing Walmart’s Self-Serve Marketing portal, sellers can run Google shopping ads to promote their items in the search results on the ads section of Google.com. These ads can help boost your visibility outside Walmart.com and drive more traffic to your listings.
Once you launch a campaign, Walmart’s proprietary bidding algorithm takes over—working to maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS) and increase your overall sales. Your ads will show up when someone searches for related products on Google.
Once you add an item to ad campaign, it goes through two phases:
Learning Phase (about 7–10 days): The algorithm gathers data on clicks, impressions, and conversions to understand performance. Expect fluctuations in traffic and ROAS during this time.
Optimizing Phase: After the learning phase, the algorithm fine-tunes your bids based on performance—spending more where it sees results and dialing back on underperforming items.
Sales Rewards and Attribution
With Walmart’s Sales Rewards and Attribution program, you can earn commission on sales driven by your own external marketing. By creating custom tracking URLs for your Marketplace items, you’ll be able to monitor performance and get credit for those off-site sales.
For more information on each of these options, visit the Advertising page on Seller Center.
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