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Walmart filed trademarks for "Walmart Creator" and "Walmart
Creator Collective," which would provide social media consulting
and "the promotion of goods and services of others through
influencers," according to the July 27 documents seen by
Reuters.
Walmart currently works with influencers to promote its
groceries and apparel, as well as its Walmart+ loyalty program.
Influencers often have large followings on Instagram, YouTube
and TikTok and recommend products by posting affiliate links.
They earn a commission when a customer uses the link to make a
purchase.
Influencer marketing is expected to grow into a $16.4 billion
industry in 2022, according to media company Influencer
Marketing Hub. Rivals Shopify and Amazon.com each have own
social-media influencer services.
Companies file trademarks for many reasons and filings do not
always lead to a company launching a new product or service.
Walmart declined to comment on its plans for Walmart Creator and
Walmart Creator Collective.
Walmart's third-party sellers can currently purchase ads from
Walmart Connect, the retailer's digital advertising business.
Walmart Connect raked in $2 billion in revenue for its ad
business last fiscal year, the company said during its February
earnings call.
Growing its e-commerce business, including its delivery-
subscription service Walmart Plus, has been a priority for
Walmart, with plans to launch new services for sellers, the
company said during its fourth-quarter earnings call in
February. Walmart currently has nearly 240 million items online
by the end of 2022 and said on Tuesday that its second-quarter
U.S. e-commerce sales jumped 12% since last year.
"The relationship between digital growth, marketplace growth,
advertising is something that we're trying to take advantage
of," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on the second-quarter
earnings call on Tuesday.
Walmart's global advertising business, comprised of Walmart
Connect and its India-based e-commerce company Flipkart's ads,
grew nearly 30% year-over-year. The company said Tuesday on its
earnings call that the number of active advertisers has
increased 121% since last year.
Since 2017, Amazon has offered social-media influencers the
chance to create their own online pages for certain recommended
products sold on Amazon.com's marketplace. The influencers earn
commissions for every product purchased from their page.
Matt Gilbert, chief executive of business partnerships software
firm Partnerize, said Walmart wants to capitalize on
advertisers' moves to spend more of their budgets on "the
creator economy."
Many influencers depend on Walmart for revenue through
"affiliate dollars," said Danielle Wiley, chief executive of
influencer marketing agency Sway Group. "Any way that the
company could make this easier for influencer and facilitate
content creation is going to benefit both sides."
(Reporting by Arriana McLymore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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