Walmart Scintilla: How Data Can Help Suppliers Sell Smarter

Amazon continues to lead U.S. ecommerce with a 37.6% market share, but Walmart is gaining ground, holding 6.4% in 2023—double eBay’s 3%. Walmart’s growth is driven by its integration of online services with its vast network of physical stores, especially in grocery, which has become a key driver.

In response to this growth, Walmart is providing more tools to help suppliers succeed in the evolving retail landscape. One of the ways it's doing this is through its rebranded Scintilla platform, formerly known as Walmart Luminate. Scintilla delivers real-time data insights from in-store and online shoppers, enabling suppliers to make smarter, data-driven decisions to optimize their sales strategies.

For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), this marks a notable shift. Traditionally, only Walmart’s largest suppliers had access to such data. Now, Scintilla gives SMBs the opportunity to compete more effectively by offering the same level of insight into shopper behavior, allowing them to adjust their strategies and discover new growth opportunities.

In this article, we’ll break down how Scintilla works, explore the insights it offers, and show how suppliers can leverage these tools to succeed in an increasingly competitive market.

Empowering SMBs with Better Data Access

Walmart Data Ventures saw a 173% growth in its client base last year, with SMBs making up a major portion of that expansion. For many smaller suppliers, accessing deep data insights was historically challenging, but Scintilla changes that by offering several advantages:

• Leveling the Playing Field: Scintilla provides SMBs with first-party data at no extra cost, data previously reserved for larger suppliers. Now, smaller businesses can use this rich data to understand customer behavior better and optimize their strategies.
• Localized Data for Regional Strategies: With Walmart expanding Scintilla into Mexico and Canada in 2024, SMBs can access region-specific data to tailor their operations. Whether it’s adjusting inventory or marketing strategies, these insights allow smaller suppliers to compete more effectively across different markets.‍
• Granular Insights for Niche Products: Scintilla’s Insights Activation tool enables suppliers to act on real-time shopper behavior data. This level of detail helps businesses spot trends, such as loyal customers purchasing less frequently, and adjust their advertising efforts accordingly. By surfacing actionable insights like purchase frequency, spend per transaction, and brand switching, suppliers can improve conversion rates and boost overall sales.

Walmart vs. Amazon: Which Data Tool Gives You the Edge?

Comparing Walmart Scintilla’s Insights Activation tool to Amazon DSP reveals important differences in data access, audience targeting, and advertising capabilities:

How to Use Scintilla to Boost Your Walmart Advertising Strategy

To optimize your Walmart advertising strategy with Scintilla, focus on these key areas:

Leverage First-Party Data for Sharper Audience Targeting

Scintilla’s data, derived from both online and in-store shoppers, helps fine-tune advertising to target specific customer segments. For example, when Bimbo Bakeries USA noticed a drop in sales among a loyal customer segment, they used Scintilla to create a targeted campaign that re-engaged these customers, leading to a significant increase in engagement and sales.

Streamline Media Planning with Data-Backed Recommendations

Scintilla automates media planning by offering campaign recommendations based on data-driven insights. This allows suppliers to focus advertising budgets on impactful opportunities, ensuring ads are more relevant and more likely to convert. For instance, suppliers can receive insights suggesting offsite campaigns to recapture customers who abandoned carts, helping to recover lost sales.

Optimize Ad Spend Based on Real-Time Insights

The Insights Activation tool enables real-time adjustments, allowing suppliers to monitor ad performance and make changes mid-campaign. If an ad performs well in-store but not online, it can be optimized on the fly for better results. This dynamic approach ensures that ad spending is focused on the strategies delivering the highest ROI.

Create Consistent Messaging Across Channels

Understanding how customers interact in both physical and digital spaces allows suppliers to craft consistent messaging across channels. Whether driving online traffic to stores or promoting in-store specials to digital shoppers, Scintilla’s insights offer a clearer picture of how audiences move between these touchpoints.