Walmart looks to boost advertising business in bid to compete with Amazon

Walmart Inc will consolidate advertising sales for its stores and websites, it said on Tuesday, aiming to boost profits from an untapped business as the world’s largest retailer competes with marketing titans Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc.

Walmart’s suppliers, such as Procter & Gamble Co, Unilever Plc and Mondelez International Inc, can deal with one inhouse ad team instead of different groups within and outside the retailer, company executives said.

Walmart will inform suppliers of the change at its annual meeting with them on Tuesday.

The move comes as rival Amazon is boosting profits by letting merchants pay for high placement in its search results. Its ad sales and other revenue jumped 95 per cent to $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter.