"Marketing is less about persuasion now, it's more about participation," said Justin Breton, head of partnerships, content and emerging experiences at Walmart, at the IAB Connected Commerce Summit last month. "How do you actually get consumers to participate with your brand?"

Breton leads Walmart's efforts to engage customers "outside of the traditional four walls,” on emerging platforms where younger, digitally native consumers are spending their time. His team's mission directly supports Walmart's broader "Who Knew?" campaign, which aims to reposition the retail giant as a digital-first brand rather than just a physical store.

Consumer expectations have fundamentally changed

Walmart learned early that assumptions about consumer behavior on emerging platforms can miss the mark entirely. When the retailer launched its first experience on Roblox, the response didn't align with internal expectations despite extensive data and insights.

"We had all this data, we had all these insights, and we really thought that we were taking the right first step to show up on this platform, but [consumers’] expectations were not aligned with what we thought their expectations were," Breton said.

That misstep led Walmart to fundamentally change its approach. The company now invites younger consumers into the planning process through community boards that provide real-time feedback on brand initiatives before launch.

"Their expectations of brands are changing and giving that consumer a seat at the table helps you as a brand understand those expectations to set you up for success," Breton said.

Social media has evolved from posting to participating

The role of social platforms has transformed dramatically, moving from static content distribution to active conversation. Brands once posted photos of products or services, then evolved to creating short-form video content for TikTok and Reels. Today, the most effective brand presence involves commenting on consumer posts and engaging directly in comment threads.

"This transition from persuasion to participation is actually driving brand favorability, and it's driving brand discovery, specifically among younger consumers," Breton said. When younger shoppers are deciding between Walmart, Target, or Amazon, seeing a brand participate in conversations that resonate with them influences their choice.

The shift requires retailers to rethink internal structures. At Walmart, marketing and merchandising now operate under "shared ownership" rather than siloed functions. The merchandising team informs which products to feature on emerging platforms because they understand the assortment better than anyone, while marketing focuses on creating experiences rather than just messages.

Immersive commerce drives discovery for specific categories

After learning from its initial Roblox misstep, Walmart built community boards to inform its second attempt: Walmart Discovered. The experience offered a utility rather than a game, a discovery tool for virtual items, experiences, and games on the platform.

Walmart Discovered has had nearly 40 million visits to date and is the highest-rated brand experience on Roblox, leading to a measurable perception change for the Walmart brand among younger consumers

Walmart also launched Walmart Realm, an immersive commerce experience that recreates virtual environments based on social media trends. Consumers scrolling TikTok or Instagram might see beauty trends or design aesthetics, which Walmart then transforms into shoppable virtual environments.

"For certain categories, it is giving customers the confidence to purchase digitally," Breton said. "It's categories that have products that are large, and when you can see them in an environment, it makes you think, I can see that in my environment."

Walmart is actively working to bring these immersive experiences natively into Walmart.com, moving them closer to checkout. The company views these tools as complementary to existing technologies like augmented reality, specifically designed to inspire digital purchases for categories that benefit from environmental context.

Live streaming required a trust-based pivot

Walmart began experimenting with shoppable live streaming on TikTok five years ago, well before it became mainstream on the platform. The initial approach, going live from Walmart's official handle with hundreds of thousands of followers, created immediate scale but also "an environment of negativity" with comments unrelated to the shopping experience.

"It felt like this is not working. It's not driving the right type of engagement that we're looking for," Breton said.

The failure led to a successful pivot: partnering with creators who would go live from their own handles. Walmart calls this approach "renting the audience." By working with experts in specific categories or products, the company tapped into existing trust relationships between creators and their audiences.

"We live in a world where trust matters, and that's what drives purchase decisions," Breton said.

We prepared this article with the assistance of generative AI tools and stand behind its accuracy, quality, and originality.

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