Walmart Connect

Overview

Walmart Connect is Walmart's retail media advertising network, enabling brands and agencies to reach shoppers across Walmart's digital properties — Walmart.com, the Walmart app, and partner publisher sites — through sponsored product listings, display advertising, and video placements. As the second-largest retail media network in the US (behind Amazon Advertising), Walmart Connect leverages Walmart's first-party purchase data on 90+ million weekly shoppers to offer closed-loop attribution: linking ad exposure directly to in-store and online purchase outcomes. When Walmart Connect pixels or tags appear on third-party advertiser websites, they serve to measure web-side conversions and close the attribution loop between ad impressions on Walmart's platform and downstream consumer actions.

What This Script Does

Script Files and Domains

The Walmart Connect tag loads JavaScript from s.walmart.com or ads.walmart.com. Conversion beacon requests fire to ads.walmart.com/beacon and pixel.walmart.com. Some Walmart Connect implementations use The Trade Desk's infrastructure (adsrvr.org) for programmatic display campaigns, loading js.adsrvr.org/up_loader.1.1.0.js. Email retargeting campaigns may also involve pixels from email.walmart.com.

Cookies Set

• wm_qsd — Walmart's query string data cookie. Stores UTM and ad click parameters from Walmart ad referrals. Persistent, 30-day expiry. First-party on walmart.com.
• wm_mid — Walmart Marketing ID. Persistent identifier linking the browser session to Walmart's advertising attribution system. 1-year expiry.
• ACID — Advertising Conversion Identifier. Stores the ad click ID used to match the conversion event to a specific Walmart Connect ad impression. 30-day expiry.
• UID (via The Trade Desk) — When Walmart Connect campaigns use TTD infrastructure, The Trade Desk's TDID cookie (1-year, third-party on adsrvr.org) is also set during audience sync operations.

Conversion Tracking Events

The Walmart Connect pixel fires on advertiser confirmation and product pages to capture: PageView (all pages), AddToCart (product ID, quantity, price), Purchase (order ID, revenue, currency, item list), Lead (form submission value), and custom events. Each event payload includes the page URL, referrer, timestamp, and the advertiser's Walmart Connect account ID.

Closed-Loop Measurement

Walmart Connect's core differentiator is its ability to match web-side conversion events (captured by the pixel) against Walmart's in-store and online purchase database. This closed-loop measurement uses Walmart's first-party customer data — purchase history, loyalty card data, Walmart Pay — to determine whether users who saw or clicked a Walmart Connect ad ultimately purchased the advertised product. This matching is performed server-side using hashed customer identifiers.

Audience Targeting

The pixel feeds Custom Audiences for retargeting: visitors who viewed specific product pages, added items to cart, or completed purchases. These audiences are used for retargeting campaigns on Walmart.com and, through The Trade Desk integration, across the broader open web. Lookalike Audiences based on purchaser behavioral patterns are also available to Walmart Connect advertisers.

Cross-Publisher Reach

Beyond Walmart's owned properties, Walmart Connect extends reach through co-marketing programs with publishers and via The Trade Desk's programmatic infrastructure, reaching audiences on third-party sites with Walmart-funded display advertising.

Consent & Compliance

Category: Marketing

Under GDPR, Walmart Connect's conversion pixel requires explicit prior consent. It sets persistent advertising cookies, transmits behavioral data to Walmart's US-based servers, and performs audience profiling for targeted advertising. Walmart Connect is a US company; data transfers from the EU require valid transfer mechanisms (Standard Contractual Clauses or EU-US DPF coverage). Walmart is registered under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

Under CCPA/CPRA, data shared with Walmart Connect for cross-context behavioral advertising constitutes "sharing" of personal information, triggering opt-out requirements. Advertiser sites using Walmart Connect pixels must ensure that California residents who opt out via a "Do Not Sell or Share" link have the pixel suppressed.

The Trade Desk component (when present) is an independently registered IAB TCF 2.2 vendor (Vendor ID 21), with its own consent requirements for EU users.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Yes. Walmart Connect is a retail media advertising pixel. It tracks conversions, builds audience profiles for retargeting, and shares behavioral data with Walmart's advertising platform for closed-loop attribution. It provides no functionality for site visitors. Block until explicit marketing consent is obtained.