Walmart fans unaware their shopping habits will be shared in ‘clean-room’ deal

WALMART customers’ shopping habits are now being shared with another major company.

The retail giant’s media group, Walmart Connect, partnered with Disney Advertising in an announcement on Wednesday.

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A new feature will be used in the deal to help securely share Walmart customers’ data with Disney’s Audience Graph features to create more targeted ads, per The Verge.

Described as “clean-room technology,” it will seemingly ensure that Walmart customer data is restricted to only be shared with Disney and not any other external third party.

Ryan Mayward, senior vice president of retail media sales for Walmart Connect, said the deal would help marketers efficiently reach the brand’s considerable online customer base.

“Approximately 145 million customers shop with us online and in stores weekly,” Mayward explained in a statement.

“Now, marketers will be able to apply those insights to their full-funnel campaigns to reach customers wherever they’re streaming Disney content.”

Disney will also benefit from the deal with Walmart Connect through the retailer’s Partner Lab, which already works with NBCUniversal, TikTok, Roku, and several other television and social media companies.

The Walmart Partner Lab helps test advertisement formatting and measurements with the brands to better connect with subscribers.

Disney’s partnership with Walmart Connect won’t begin testing until later this summer.

Electronics, apparel, automotive products, and other shopping categories could be seen through targeted ads first.

Walmart has been making moves to improve its advertisements since the start of this year.

The retailer agreed to purchase Vizio, a smart television brand, in February for about $2.3 billion, per a press release.

Those customers who would buy from the Vizio brand would then supposedly be subject to frequent Walmart advertising and channels, something that privacy and competition advocates took note of.

They are calling for the government to investigate the Vizio purchase to prevent a move that “could lock in captive buyers to Walmart advertising and content channels for good.”

It’s unclear when the Vizio acquisition is expected to be finalized or if it will go through, given the consistent advertising considerations.

Walmart came under fire for another reason recently, as The U.S. Sun previously reported.

SETTLEMENT REACHED

A class action lawsuit accused the retailer of overcharging customers for weighted items.

Walmart did not admit to any wrongdoing in the case but agreed to a $45 million settlement to resolve the claims and avoid further legal costs.

“We still deny the allegations, however, we believe a settlement is in the best interest of both parties,” a spokesperson for the brand told Fox Business.

Walmart stores closed in 2024

So far, Walmart has closed the following stores in 2024:

• San Diego, California – February 9
• El Cajon, California – Februay 9
• Columbus, Ohio – February 16
• West Covina, California – March 29
• Towson, Maryland – April 5
• Granite Bay, California – April 12
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin – May 19

Eligible customers could see a direct payment of $500 soon.

The deadline to file a claim form is set for June 5.

Shoppers can find more information on the settlement website.

For more related content, check out The U.S. Sun’s coverage of the “huge bone to pick” a customer had with Walmart’s self-checkout policy.

The U.S. Sun also has the story on Walmart’s major liquidation sale going on right now for a closing store location.