Some Future Day

Some Future Day - Episode 2: How Walmart is Transforming Retail | with Justin Breton

Marc Beckman: [00:00:00] All right, Justin. I am so excited to have you join some future day. It's really a pleasure and an honor to have you today. When we first met, I thought you were a true visionary as it relates to technology, your vision as to applying technology into the world of retail, and at such a massive scale. So before we get into Walmart specifically, I'm curious, how do you envision The future of retail as all of these new technologies are entering the marketplace.
Justin Breton: Yeah, well, first, thank you for having me. Um, it's great to see you again and I'm excited to be here. You know, I think I, I'm fortunate to be on a team that is tasked with thinking about like what's next and the way in which we think about like the what's next is really as it relates to Walmart or really [00:01:00] retail in general.
It's like, how do you engage with customers outside of the traditional four walls? And by four walls, I don't just mean in this instance, a Walmart store. I mean, Beyond the website, beyond the app, and as we think about these emerging platforms and these new technologies, they really present an opportunity for us to meet customers in new ways and give them opportunities to engage with us in a way where we're adding value, it's maybe shifting their perception, and hopefully, it's leading to them making purchases at Walmart.
And so, as I think about, like, the future of retail and The value these emerging platforms and new technologies can bring, I think it's, it's actually quite grand, and I think you're seeing many brands, uh, adopt these platforms and technologies probably faster than ever before, and I think they're learning, and they're optimizing, and I think what you're seeing is that customers are actually [00:02:00] responding positively, and so I think there's a lot of opportunity, um, and so I think this, this, this landscape Uh, it's, it's very exciting, which you alluded to, as you said, like, I, I appreciate you calling me a visionary, um, and, and I, I think that there's just, there's so much opportunity, and, and I think we're, quite frankly, like, just at the beginning of it.
Marc Beckman: So when you talk about meeting new customers or introducing new customers to Walmart or the retail landscape, there's always this default in the marketplace. Technology equals young. Technology equals Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I call it Gen Zalpha. Is that really your goal here, or do you feel like technology can speak to every age profile across all the demographics?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I mean, I think that there's an opportunity to use these platforms and technologies to speak to everybody. I mean, with, with. Walmart landed on Roblox, which was, which was our big launch last year in this, this space. So Roblox is certainly an established platform when [00:03:00] you look at the number of users that are actively going onto the platform daily.
But it is emerging in the sense that their technology is advancing pretty rapidly. More and more brands are creating brand destinations on that platform. That particular platform skews Young, but it's starting to age up. And so when you have conversations with people, they immediately say, well, Roblox is for kids.
But if you look at the data, it's actually starting to skew older. So more than 50% of people on Roblox are actually older than 16, despite what people think about that particular audience. But as you look at what brands like Bloomingdale's have done, or what Lacoste has done with building their own virtual destination, those are actually skewing.
Much older. And when we meet with these platform partners to just get an understanding of what, what, what partners are doing in this space, it is suggesting that. You know, when you build something for an audience, if it's built with the intent of adding value, they will come, [00:04:00] and that audience may, in that instance, actually be older.
Um, and so, I do think these platforms and technologies can actually, like, span the spectrum. But, it, you know, if you want to show up meaningfully, you gotta, like, play into the audience. So, when we show up on Roblox, we're talking to that audience, but when we show up on other platforms, or if we use other technologies, it might be a different audience.
But, collectively... It's valuing the brand.
Marc Beckman: So it's really interesting what Roblox has done beyond the brands that you name dropped. Um, certainly they've skewed older and I think a different profile of customers as it relates to brands that they've launched with, you know, for example, NARS Cosmetics, Gucci. Allo Yoga. Um, in fact, the Allo Yoga exercise on Roblox, I think, is super compelling.
Um, what they've done is they've created this land or this environment, this immersive experience called Allo Sanctuary, which you must be familiar
with. And what they're doing is they're [00:05:00] encouraging
Justin Breton: Mm hmm.
Marc Beckman: And you go into the sanctuary and you meditate. And if somebody's participating and they meditate a certain amount of times, they're actually rewarded. They're gifted with a digital piece of merchandise. For example, their goat. Their iconic goat jacket has now been gifted to over 500, 000 users. NARS Cosmetics gave away to, um, almost 100 million individuals a color palette that could be used to paint an avatar.
So from your perspective, When you interact, when Walmart interacts with the consumer, are you trying to create additional value through new merchandising experiences and through new digital immersive experiences on the Roblox platform? And if so, how?
Justin Breton: Yeah, what a great question. And I love the examples that you, you referenced very familiar with aloe and very familiar with, um, what NARS Cosmetics did, and, and [00:06:00] they're very much a big fan of, of what they were able to, to launch and, and how they've engaged with the community. So I I love that those are the examples you used with Walmart land.
We, we very much put an emphasis on experiences over like products. And so what we built was very much anchored in. Key insights that were shared with us by Roblox, key insights that we were able to gather in partnership with partners that were helping us develop and effectively like launch this experience.
And what we found is that like self expression was really important and so we created experiences that aligned nicely with that, shared. All of those moments or shared experiences were important, so we created experiences that aligned with that, one of them being a virtual music festival, uh, that launched two weeks after our initial launch.
We invited Youngblood, Kane Brown, and Madison Beer into the experience as virtual performers who performed in a virtual music festival, and if you're like, I don't know who those [00:07:00] people are, that's good, that means that I did my job. Um...
Marc Beckman: Come on, everybody knows Youngblood and
Justin Breton: Yeah, oh my god, there you go, yeah, uh,
Marc Beckman: that Madison Beer is coming out with some new music and everybody's touting that it's going to be massive. It's going to be her breakthrough moment,
Justin Breton: Oh, good. Well, I hope so because she was lovely to work with and it was great. It was great to give her fans an experience in this Walmart land destination. Um, and, and, and again, like we really put an emphasis on experiences. As we look to evolve our presence on the Roblox platform and we use our learnings from this initial launch, I think, The way in which we engage with the community will probably evolve.
And so experiences will always be a part of it. But how do we actually start to use learnings from what we've done, but also learnings from brands like Alloyoga, Nars Cosmetics, and other brands on the platform who have had great success, uh, to effectively... Give the community something that is sort of this [00:08:00] sweet spot of all the things that they desire on that platform.
And in that instance, it's a younger demographic.
Marc Beckman: so, Justin, in, in regards to, let's take, for example, the self expression component, what value does Walmart have when it connects with a consumer and gives that consumer the ability in Walmart land to express themselves?
Justin Breton: Yeah. So in this particular, uh, like that particular vein of like self expression, like what we did was we effectively took. Categories that exist at Walmart, so fashion and beauty, which are often closely associated with self expression, you know, you're wearing clothing, you're putting makeup on, and you're doing so in a way that, um, is representative of who you are.
On a platform like Roblox, You know, currently I have dark hair, but I, in a virtual version of myself, could have pink hair, could decide to wear skirts, could decide [00:09:00] to just be somebody that I'm not in the real world. And so in Walmart land, we kind of celebrated that and encouraged people to try on virtual items from various assortments from Walmart.
Uh, we created experiences aligned with beauty that sort of like loosely associate, were associated with self expression. We created this like Big Udi Abhi. Um, for those of you listening that don't know what an Abhi is, it's an obstacle course. Uh, but that Abhi was made up of oversized versions of products that are available at Walmart, all targeted to Gen Z.
So it was almost like, here's a virtual experience that's... that's loosely aligned to self expression, featuring products that maybe you didn't even know Walmart sold, like AF94, which is Halsey's beauty brand, but Walmart's a destination for that product. And so we almost used it as a way to drive engagement, but also create awareness through that lens of self expression of us as a destination, one virtually, but also physically and digitally for these goods.
Marc Beckman: So that's some huge [00:10:00] stuff that you're talking about, literally, like when you talk about star power of Youngblood and Halsey and Madison Beer and beyond, do they participate with you in helping shape those experiences and in connecting at that expressive way?
Justin Breton: yeah. Oh, that's such a good question. Yeah, I mean like we had like Youngblood and Kane Brown and Madsen like in a studio in LA wearing one of those like cool full body suits with all the little dots that track movements and you know they would perform a song and they would say that didn't feel right.
Let's do it again. And we would show them like how their moves were translating into what would effectively be their And so they had a hand in sort of like what that avatar looked like. They very much were involved in, uh, the process of designing what they wore on stage. Each of them changed what they were wearing on stage once.
So they had their opening act outfit and then they had their closing outfit and they, they were very involved. [00:11:00] Um, and so it was great to be able to give somebody like a Youngblood, Kane Brown and a Madison Beer. Like. A platform to reach people globally. Um, and, and, you know, I was in the concert when it was happening and like, people were like, Oh my God, like, thank you, Walmart.
And like, that felt so nice. Like, that was
Marc Beckman: So what kind of a, so, so like focusing on, yeah. So focusing on that, when you say that's what you were hoping for, like is what What is it that Walmart or a brand could gain from that emotional connection, right? When that fan, whether it's a Halsey fan or a Madison beer fan makes the connection in a Walmart metaversal space, what's the carry over to Walmart?
Does that equate with regards to stronger brand equity, stronger brand awareness? Is there a transaction that occurs with it as well?
Justin Breton: Yeah. So with, with Walmart Land on Roblox, like what we found is that people that engaged with the brand on the platform had a 10 percent lift in brand [00:12:00] favorability and a 21 percent lift in likelihood to recommend. And so people that were engaging with us outside of the traditional four walls were maybe Pleasantly surprised and, uh, enjoyed the concert experience. Had fun during our holiday update. Like there was something that happened on a platform that they love with a brand that maybe they thought one thing about, but this virtual experience actually helped shift their perception of the brand in a.
In a positive way. And so, quite frankly, like, I mean, there were things that we did that were complete misses that, like, probably made people think differently about Walmart. But then there were things that we did that were home runs that made people think differently about Walmart in that lens. And so I think through this initial launch, we learned a lot and we're going to use that to inform again, like, what we do on future platforms and with new technologies.
But overall, I think it was really effective at driving positive brand favorability.
Marc Beckman: Justin, like when you say there were complete [00:13:00] misses and you can learn, isn't, isn't the metaverse really a space now, consumer facing? Like I know the, I know the retail trade publications and the retail media could be a little brutal at times. Aren't the complete misses consumer facing kind of accepted these days?
Like they understand that Walmart's putting themselves out there. They're taking a risk to enhance my experience with the brand and it's okay for it to be, to tinker a little bit. Like what, do you see a difference between, um, a complete miss that's consumer facing versus like the way that, you know, this, this media moment is, um, behaving?
Justin Breton: Yeah, that's, I have to probably be careful what I say because, um, I have so many thoughts about this, um, yeah, I think, you know, we are a brand that often has, as I, I don't know how else to say it, but like we have a target on our back, like we're easy to pick on, um, we, we, we can do the, the biggest [00:14:00] gesture in the world and it would be perceived as not enough, um, and so, Yeah.
We always, as we enter new, new platforms, or we test new mediums, know that whatever we're doing might come with scrutiny, but we have to do it because we have to learn and the landscape of social platforms, like Threads just launched last week, is is constantly going to evolve. New technology is going to continue to introduce, be introduced, like AI.
These platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft are going to continue to grow. Like we have to show up. And so like when I say complete mess, I mean, things like, you know, we didn't have in our first experience, like a strong gameplay loop. And what we learned pretty quickly is that you need that because that actually like drives repeat visits that also drives a higher time spent in the experience.
And so. We course corrected and we added that in and that was always our approach with the initial [00:15:00] rollout, which was like, let's not do zero to 100 with this rollout. Let's, let's slowly roll it out to learn as we go. And, and that's what we did. But I think like when you looked at the metrics and you, you would compare against other experiences, like we were.
A little bit behind. We caught up, but those types of things, uh, you know, you kind of have to do it to know. And so, while I think you're right, like, people kind of, like, are forgiving, and I think that the community on Roblox is very forgiving, they're also very vocal. And so, like, when we launched, when we launched, I felt like I was,
Marc Beckman: right? They start
kicking off all of their own videos in game, criticizing the different experiences and all, right? The influencers came after you a little bit.
Justin Breton: I mean, it was fun. Like, we, I mean, like, there were thousands of videos about Walmartland before we even launched because, like, the virtual item we were giving away, um, at launch, like, leaked [00:16:00] somehow. And I mean, there were just thousands of videos. I mean, it was like nothing. I had never seen anything like it before.
And I was like, this is wild. This is millions of impressions with no dollars behind it. And it is, people are excited, and then we launched, and then people went into the experience, and you then had thousands. More pieces of content on YouTube and TikTok and Twitter. And, you know, some of it was good. Some of it was bad.
All of it was extremely helpful in making us smarter. And ideally, like, you know, we want to be a brand that is like community driven. Like, if you think about Walmart in the physical world, like we play a really important role in communities. Like we give back to communities and, and, and, and I think like, that's what we need to try to manifest in.
These virtual worlds, which is like, let's take our brand loves in the real world and actually manifest them virtually.
Marc Beckman: So on an individual level, just going back [00:17:00] to your concept of self expression, Um, it's kind of interesting to see the evolution of a platform like Roblox or Minecraft or Fortnite where people from all over the world, strangers, could engage. And if you go back like 10 years ago or so, um, Adults were scared that their children were going to, um, meet people with bad intentions.
There was, like, always this guarded thing. But it seems now that it's turned into something that is fairly safe. And it gives individuals the ability to, as you said, appear in a way that they want to appear. Whether that means putting on makeup or wearing a particular dress or, you know, perhaps it's a... Uh, uh, a person that identifies, um, as a girl, but, um, wants to, you know, in the real world doesn't feel comfortable yet, dressing like a, like a girl.
Um, don't you feel like we've shifted, uh, [00:18:00] as, as a culture and as a society now? And part of that shift is because spaces like, um, Walmart land in Roblox provide a safe environment for self expression. And doesn't that strengthen. The relationship between the consumer and, uh, the Walmart fan and the brand.
Justin Breton: Yeah, I definitely think so. And I think that just the robots platform in general and even like a Fortnite or a Minecraft, like, I think those platforms, based on my knowledge, and I'm certainly I'm not an expert in this, but like, you know, my knowledge of these platforms is that they take security, like, very seriously and, you know, like, Roblox has just recently, like, rolled out some, some new policies around, like, tagging experiences as advertising versus not, and if it's tagged as an advertising, no one under the age of 13 can come into it, and so, like, It is becoming a platform that's becoming even more transparent.[00:19:00]
But to your point, like there are, there are 60 million plus daily active users that are going onto this platform. Maybe they're navigating into brand experiences. Maybe they're going into their favorite game, but like they are able to be who they want to be. And I think parents feel comfortable with them being on these platforms because of the safeguards that are in place.
But yes, when somebody navigates to a brand experience and that brand experience gives them Something that allows them to be who they want to be, I think that that is very rewarding and it's a mutually beneficial reward. It's rewarding to the user but it's also rewarding to the brand because it's a positive experience and I think we want to like continue to like make those moments happen.
Um, be it that example you shared where it's somebody that's coming in and they can express themselves as whoever they want to be or it's somebody coming in and like Again, just having a really fun time, the positive experience with the brand and like those are real big wins.
Marc Beckman: I agree. I agree. I mean, so did you expect to [00:20:00] have millions and millions of visitors? I think the last stat I saw was 18 million people participated in Walmart land. And like you said, you had all this additional influencers creating content. Is that something you expected? Did that surpass your expectations?
Because those are big numbers, even for the biggest retailer on the planet. Those are really impressive numbers.
Justin Breton: Yeah. I mean, I should say like, you know, like we are not, we're not the biggest experience on the platform. There are other experiences that have had bigger numbers, but like, and we, we, we sort of did our research before we launched to say, like, these are the goals that we're hoping to achieve in this timeframe.
These are the tactics that we're going to use to hit these goals. And, and, yeah. Within two weeks, we had surpassed our goal significantly, and we had sort of set our goal on a monthly basis. We were like, in our first month, this is what we aspire to achieve, and I think the number was like 5. 2 million, and within two weeks, we were at 7.
4 million, [00:21:00] um, something like that. So it felt really great to say, like, well, people are interested, people are coming, they're engaging with the brand, all this content's being generated. So that was, I think, like... The plan, like we were hoping for that, um, certainly have exceeded where I thought we were going to be at this point in the experience, this life stage being at 18 plus million.
Thank you. Um, what I did not expect is all of the user generated content. Like, I just did not see that coming. I didn't realize how, like, that's just a part of that generation's lifestyle. Like, they are creating content. about their avatars in these experiences, and they are blasting it out daily. And I just, I didn't realize that that was such a thing, and I mean, the amount of content, like I said earlier, that was created in such [00:22:00] a short period of time, just was mind boggling.
And so we started to actually use that in our, to benefit our efforts as we introduce new things.
Marc Beckman: So can you expand on that concept a little bit?
Justin Breton: Yeah, so we, so we launched, and we saw all of this content get generated, which was, which again, was really exciting and unexpected. Um, I always like to say this, so I'm just gonna say it, like, there was a video from a very prominent and popular YouTube gamer about Walmart Land that was the number one trending gaming video on YouTube within 24 hours of our, of our launch, and he did a full review of the experience, and he was, Very constructive.
Like he didn't go in and say, this is bad. Or, you know, he was like, wow, they did a really good job in their first kind of, to your point earlier, people being forgiving and thoughtful about like brands are trying. And, um, he, he created this video and there were millions of people that watched it within 24 hours.
So what we saw was with all of this user generated content, as we [00:23:00] introduce. New updates to the experience, when we would include a free, like, user generated item, which is basically like a free virtual item that you unlock once you complete a game, an experience, and it basically becomes something that you collect.
You collect these virtual items, you can wear them on your avatars. Every time we would introduce a new virtual item, it would, the flywheel of content would start. And so, we started to sort of, like, tease the new. Virtual items were coming, and we would see a spike in visits and searches, and then the second that that item dropped, the content...
And of course we were using our learnings from our initial launch to improve the gameplay loop. So we saw time spent increase, we saw repeat visits increase because again, we were like using those, those, those learnings to inform these, these updates, but [00:24:00] that started to become a part of our strategy. And so we released four additional virtual items and there's content about each of them, which, which is great.
Marc Beckman: Do you have a number or can you share a number with regards to, um, when you started to plateau or peak with regards to the amount of time fans were spending in Walmart land? How much, how much time was that? And, you know, is that more valuable than just, is the immersive experience and the time that people are in there playing and socializing and expressing themselves more valuable for Walmart than producing a, you know, broadcast television commercial and speaking at the consumer?
Justin Breton: That's a really good question. So, we, we, our peak time spent was after our final update, which had a, to contextualize that, when we first launched, it was, you know, a fantasy island in the sky, the island looked like the Walmart Spark, So there were six Spark Arms, or what we called aisles, when we [00:25:00] launched, two of the six aisles were available.
At our final launch, or our final rollout, which occurred at the beginning of February, all six of those aisles were basically live. And there was a cross world, uh, cross Walmart land scavenger hunt that... Led to people spending 20 minutes in the experience. And what was great is you went from sort of this like Serenity Isle outdoor experience to the Beauty Obby to the Entertainment Isle.
So it was a great way to sort of showcase the full world, um, through gamification. So we peaked at 20 minutes. That was like our highest time span. And we kind of hovered around there for about 12. I mean, that is huge. If you think about.
Marc Beckman: number. Yeah, that's massive.
Justin Breton: It's massive. And, and, you know, that was the peak. So like our average is significantly lower than that, but I mean, even if you look at when we launched, time spent being, you know, you know, it hovered between like three and five minutes, like that is a lot longer than somebody looking at a TikTok video or [00:26:00] an Instagram post or anything on social platforms.
Like that is a lot of time spent with a brand. And so if you can harness that in a way that is All about positivity or it's about discovery or community engagement or an experience and it's leading to that positive feeling with a brand. That's really huge. And so I think this younger generation. Gen Alpha, Gen Z, like, they are going to put more of an emphasis on, acts and not ads.
And so, when you are in a virtual experience and you are engaging with a brand through their acts, I think that that is going to be more beneficial to a brand than, like, a 15 second spot during the Super Bowl, um, which is easy to, you're competing with so many other people. You know, your audience isn't nearly as captive as when they're in your experience.
Marc Beckman: So the benefit for the brand then in that immersive [00:27:00] experience is versus broadcast television is the fact that the consumer or the fan is there longer and they're participating, experiencing the brand versus being spoken to. Is that, is that your point?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, like, like the idea of like, you know, these acts and not ads is like, sort of how we like to talk about the work that our team does, which is like, how do we story do and not just story tell? And make sure, yeah, to your point, that it's like, you know, this captive audience that's engaging with you versus like, potentially watching a commercial and being on a secondary device.
Marc Beckman: So it's pretty cool. The Walmart community, I'm sorry, but like what you're saying is like the Walmart community really did create a full experience with your company, with the brand, like they helped shape it. They helped create the communications. They participated early on. They had, you took on some feedback and pivoted and adjusted to enrich that experience, which, you know, clearly the numbers show that, that [00:28:00] you, um, were rewarded with those decisions.
It's pretty interesting.
Justin Breton: Yeah. And I mean, I think one of our biggest learnings is engage with the community sooner, like there's there, this is, uh, this is a space where there are so many people that are creators that have great ideas that are building their own experiences that are creating their own virtual items. Like there's no reason why they shouldn't be.
A part of the evolution of these brand experiences because they have so much value to add. Um, the same way 10, 15 years ago, brands started to engage with influencers on social platforms. And you think about the evolution of that, I mean, that's a whole huge ecosystem. Um, and I think we'll see something similar on these platforms.
Marc Beckman: So, so then, beyond the marketing value and the positive consumer sentiment that Walmart benefited, uh, from, from building in the metaverse, [00:29:00] uh, was there a monetary payoff? Was there a commercial component to it all?
Justin Breton: So, with our first foray onto the Roblox platform, there was no sort of monetary element in the actual experience. So, you weren't buying virtual goods, you were, through meaningful engagement or meaningful experiences, you were unlocking in world currency that you could use to basically buy these goods.
And so, that was a strategic decision to sort of like use our first foray. on to the platform to get a foundational understanding of like, how do we build an always on evergreen destination, uh, that effectively could support monetization. We did, however, launch a partnership with the Roblox gift card team that we launched in December of last year.
It was the first of its kind, where when you bought a Roblox gift card at Walmart, You unlocked a free virtual item, and that free virtual item had a special feature in Walmart Land. And so, what's so great about [00:30:00] that is it ties the sale of a physical good, the gift card in this instance, to something meaningful in a virtual experience.
And as we think about continuing to evolve and learn in this space, How do we go deeper there? And what is the intersection of like virtual to physical? Or how do you take something that you're buying digitally that then you get physically that then also manifests virtually? Like there's so much opportunity and I think we're a brand that is set up to do some really fun and innovative things and so that test in December led to an always on Uh, sort of, partnership where we promoted the Roblox gift card, the free virtual item, uh, on a monthly basis.
And so, um, yeah, it was great, it was a really fun test, it was the first time they had done it, and we learned a lot.
Marc Beckman: So, as an agency, we are often talking to our clients about building out these URL meets IRL verticals, and you're touching on that a little bit, but I [00:31:00] think what's even more interesting to get into with you right now, since you made that connection back to the physical gift cards, is this concept of what I refer to as an infinity loop.
between the digital Walmart experience and the physical Walmart experience. And I wonder in your, in your, uh, planning, did you think a little bit more as to how the consumer that's already at brick and mortar can then enter the metaverse and have a richer, deeper experience? Um, we often see a lot of retailers just replicating like a, a four walled In store experience, go in and it's pixelated, buy some flip flops, buy a t shirt, buy a hoodie, and get out.
But we love the idea of enriching, almost in like a dream like way, where if one of your core values or pillars of a brand is, um, music, or art, or... You know, health and wellness. Can you enhance that in the metaversal space [00:32:00] to build a stronger infinity loop? So those, those values and benefits are not exactly the same in the physical realm as well as the digital realm, but the consumer's lives could be enhanced through this infinity loop from Walmart brick and mortar into Walmart land and Roblox.
Is that something that you've been thinking about?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I mean, like, we are always, I, I'm gonna say a word, and I don't know if I like the word, but I'm gonna say it anyway, Fidgetal. Like, we hear that said a lot, which is like, what is the physical digital intersection? I think, like... I'm going to try to make up a word. Actually, no, I'm not, because this is being recorded, but like, what's the intersection of physical, digital, and virtual?
And like, how do you actually create that infinity loop? And how do you tie those three things together in a way that feels really meaningful? I think one of our biggest learnings with, with Walmartland, and I think you were kind of alluding to this as you were talking about like the pixelated experiences that you've seen, and these like four wall, experiences in store that maybe [00:33:00] just like feel a little bit like copy and paste versus like truly pushing the boundaries and being innovative is like, whatever it is that you're doing, you have to add value to the customer's experience.
You can't just do it to check a box because if you do, it doesn't resonate. And so as we think about the connection between virtual, physical and digital, we're also always asking ourselves, well, just because we can, should we? Like, does it actually make sense? Are we adding value? And I think, like, what we're finding is that, like, there is a lot of opportunity to connect these.
And I think, uh, this is not so much a, uh, a physical to virtual as much as it's, like, a physical to digital, but we, um, you know, one of my, my colleagues works on all of our experiential strategy, and then we popped up at Something in the Water festival in Virginia Beach earlier this year. We partnered with her team.
To support a digital extension with a product drop that was supported with a [00:34:00] live stream. So what's great about that is that the physical activation is obviously for the people that are at the festival. So you've got however many people are at the festival, 15, 000, 75, 000. But the live stream... Gives it scale.
And then you start to reach millions of people, and you're giving millions of people access to a limited edition product drop that is done, uh, that was, that was done by a local artist, so it ties it back to the West Virginia community, and it's displayed on site in the physical activation, and that was a really good, I think, example of, like, that cool loop where you're creating So, Physical moments with digital extensions.
People then become interested in the festival and it was a really good experience, but again, like how do we actually start to think about physical, digital, and virtual and what that intersection is to create that loop?
Marc Beckman: So what do you think the consumers like Gen Z and Gen Alpha, what do you think they could expect [00:35:00] from Walmart, right? Like the Walmart that I know from when I was a kid is very different from what you're describing right now. It's like really exciting what you're talking about. This concept of, you know, live streaming, metaverse, digital goods, physical goods, live concerts in the metaverse.
Like we'll, we'll, we'll, the, you know, the 15 year old that's in the Midwest or in New York City or in Miami. Perceive Walmart as, you know, the cool place to go if I want to go and see, you know, the hot concert and then have exclusive access to physical merchandise kicked off from that concert. Like, is that part of, of the game plan for Walmart?
Justin Breton: I mean, I honestly, like I, the Walmart that I'm working at today also feels very different than the Walmart I grew up with in the middle of Maine 20 years ago. It's just, it feels very future forward and, and very much, and obviously that stems from like the, the [00:36:00] leadership that, that is at Walmart currently and, and they are very, um, open and willing to test and learn and, and William White, our CMO, he is fully supportive of, of my team and our efforts to engage with younger audiences and communities and, and using these emerging platforms and new technologies to do so.
And so I think you are going to continue to see Innovation from Walmart. And I think you're going to see a shift in perception of Walmart in that I don't think in In 15 years, I don't think people will think of Walmart exclusively as a store. I think people will think of Walmart as a brand that has a store, but is a digital destination that has not just everything, but has your thing and is a digital destination that has live content that has.
Virtual experiences, um, but also, outside of our owned destination, we're meeting you on platforms like Roblox. We're meeting you on platforms like TikTok. We [00:37:00] are, uh, talking to you about products via a creator or influencer that you know and love because they're a part of the Walmart Creator Program. So I think that Walmart is going to start showing up in more and more places and that's going to help shift how people think about Walmart and...
The ways in which they want to engage with Walmart, which is huge. I'm very, I feel very fortunate to be a part of it.
Marc Beckman: Yeah, I mean, it's, it's really a very lofty and exciting vision. I love it personally, especially where I sit in the community, but as you tap into more and more people, right, you already are the largest retailer in the country, probably the world. And now as you expand your, your base by scaling through the use of technology, do certain risks come with that?
Um, for example, uh, Walmart is a very family oriented, wholesome environment. It has a, it's always been. You know, for sure there's criticism, but at the core, like, it's an inclusive environment. It's, it's a fantastic place. The, the Walton family is super impressive with [00:38:00] regards to their vision and what they've built.
It's incredible, but what kind of risks come as you are kind of giving the keys to the kingdom to some of these people in the community, to creators? Like, what happens if, if they say something that could be perceived as if it's coming from The brand. What if, um, you know, something happens with some of the user generated content to promote a vertical within, um, the metaverse that you're hosting?
Um, how, how are you taking on these types of risks as you expand the community?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I mean, that's another great question. And I think, like, as we test onto new platforms and use new technologies, I think all of that comes with risk. Um, I think as we expand our network of creators, there's certainly risk. You know, I think all of the people that are supporting these various initiatives, like, are using their best judgment and best practices to, to de risk what we do.
Um, but of course, you know, you can never... [00:39:00] You never know what will happen tomorrow, um, and so it's hard to, um, it's hard to, to, of course, like, move forward knowing, like, we're 100%, you know, safe, and this is a de risked experience, but I think you have to, you have to keep testing, and you have to
Marc Beckman: But don't all brands have that issue now as, as they open vis a vis the metaverse, Web3, AI, all of it? Doesn't every brand face that type of headwind?
Justin Breton: yeah, oh my gosh, absolutely, I mean, I think, like, even with, with AI, I think there's just so many unknowns, But if you don't move now, you kind of like, lose the risk of being a first mover and learning, and then you're playing catch up, and then you're kind of like always behind. And so, I feel like you kind of have to move now, take that risk, but do that risk in a smart way for your brand and business, uh, to hopefully, Provide the customer with value, uh, that drives conversion, uh, but as AI [00:40:00] evolves and the scrutiny of AI either goes up or down, the legislation around AI gets worse or better, who knows, right?
But you've gotta, I think you've gotta move now in order, at least as it relates to emerging platforms and new technologies, to be a player in the space,
Marc Beckman: So let's segue then. You started touching on on the live stream shopping on on, I think you call it Walmart Shop Live. I think it's a, you know, is it a joint venture or a partnership with, um, which is it called Shop Live?
Justin Breton: It's so, no, so it's, um, where it's on walmart. com now. We, two weeks ago, fully transitioned, yeah, this, this, this Walmart live shopping destination onto walmart. com proper, which is great because we proved the value. Yeah, thanks. Um, it's a huge shout out to my team who does a lot of the great work of bringing those live shifts to life.
Uh, but, yeah, it's It's, it's great that like we were able to, you know, we first launched shoppable live streams off platform. Our first was with TikTok in December of [00:41:00] 2020. We then tested on TikTok again, several more times. We expanded to include Facebook. We tested on YouTube and Twitter. We're continuing to go live on all of those platforms, but we also developed our own branded destination with the intent of starting to build.
Like a catalog of content aligned to beauty, home, fashion, home improvement, and bringing in our celebrity brand ambassadors, bringing in our supplier partners and giving them the power to effectively go live, demo their products, tell the stories about their products, talk about why they chose this pattern for their product in a way that feels very authentic and relatable.
And that destination just recently transitioned from the URL you referenced, which is walmartshoplive. com. To walmart. com backslash live and it's all there now and it's it's really fun and exciting and even with that medium We've learned a lot Mm
Marc Beckman: So it's, it's interesting because that medium in places like China have been explosive with regards to revenue [00:42:00] now for years, since before the pandemic, for years. Are you starting to see momentum and interest picking up in, in live stream shopping on the Walmart platform?
Justin Breton: Yeah, yeah. I mean, like we're seeing continued growth, which is great in terms of viewership and time spent. And then I think like we're seeing continued interest from our supplier partners and celebrity brand ambassadors. And so everyone is, I think, more aware of what shoppable live streams are today than they were two years ago, which is great.
I think there are obviously like some pretty significant differences here in the States versus what you're seeing abroad in Asia in terms of shoppable live streams and the, um, like the super app. You know, as I'm sure you are aware of, like, the super app, uh, sort of, I don't know how to even describe it, but, like, How everything lives in one app abroad and you're getting your delivery done there and you're arranging for your laundry and you're chatting with your friends but that's a lot where a lot of those shoppable live streams live and so you've got everything [00:43:00] there your payment information your shopping information we're trying to take it's frictionless exactly and so we're trying to take like things that we know work really well there and apply them here so with this transition onto walmart.
com it's now frictionless in that. You're adding products to your native walmart. com cart. If you're a Walmart plus member, you get all those benefits. Shipping is waived. If you spend more than 35, like it's we're, we're slowly working towards what we believe is the North star based on what we're seeing abroad in China.
Marc Beckman: So do you expect, um, for like the traditional live, uh, shopping networks, QVC, HSN, you expect them to disappear in years to come, given the fact that we'll continue to see growth with this type of live streaming, not just from Walmart, but from, you know, all over the place, right?
Justin Breton: Oh yeah. I mean, we're seeing, yeah. Like, um, we're seeing publishers develop live stream networks. We are seeing more and more brands adopt the medium. Actually, QVC [00:44:00] and HSN both have. Digital shoppable live stream channels now, like they are supporting this medium and meeting their customers where they are online, be it Facebook, on a branded destination, um, and effectively Going live digitally versus exclusively on like a linear TV.
And so I, I think, honestly, I think the more and more people that, that embrace it, it's, it's mutually beneficial. And so I'm always excited when I see, I think I saw like Poshmark, uh, earlier this week announced that they were starting to do
Marc Beckman: really exciting. I mean, that's
really amazing. Do you see certain product categories really outperforming the other product categories? And if so, like which ones are you seeing success with?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I think like, like beauty makes a ton of sense when you think about shoppable live streams. You start with a blank face. You've got five to ten products, and by the end of the live stream, you've gone from a blank face to a Halloween [00:45:00] look, or spring glow, whatever it is, and you're seeing how the products can actually be used to create a particular look.
So in that instance, you're demoing the product, you're talking about the product features, or ingredients, or benefits, if that makes sense. But you're also seeing... The final product
Marc Beckman: So, before and after, right?
Problem
Justin Breton: and after exactly. So beauty makes a ton of sense. I think fashion also makes sense, but when you're doing fashion, it's really important to have a diverse set of people on set so that the way in which this sweater looks on me might be different from how it might look on.
You know, my cousin Jason or my best friend Matt and so you have to have diversity in terms of body type and skin type to make sure that like, if people are going to buy something through shoppable live streams, they have the confidence to do so.
Marc Beckman: So, so on your livestream vertical, are the people that are selling people [00:46:00] that, are they employees of Walmart or is that open to anyone's participation?
Justin Breton: So we've got a whole sort of roster of, of partners that are going live. So we have, uh, like celebrity brand ambassadors. So for example, Drew Barrymore, she sells her flower beauty products at Walmart. She sells her beautiful home line at Walmart. So she's going live from her Talk show studio, uh, after hours, and she's talking about her products and she's, you can buy this at Walmart, she talks about why she chose certain colors.
So she's an example of a, a celebrity brand ambassador. We also have supplier partners, so Heart Tools, so we, they said beauty's a great category, another great category is home improvement. And with Heart Tools, they're going live every other month and they're effectively doing like a DIY live build along.
They're using their power tools to build these items, um, and you're, again, seeing a before and after. And the items that they're creating are easy to create [00:47:00] at home, and they're showing their products in use. Um, so that's an example of a supplier led activation. We also have Walmart Associates, and so we have Walmart Associates that are going live from their stores, uh, and it's great, it's giving them a platform to show their expertise of the products that they're selling for a seasonal moment, a particular category, um, and, and it's been really fun to see the six associates that we're working with, like, their stars rise, like, I think they were nervous with their first one,
Marc Beckman: on, on the upside financially?
Justin Breton: they, they do not financially Uh, like, get any sort of commission from them, but it, it's a part of an existing sort of Walmart associate program, uh, that the local social team runs, where we have these spotlight champions across the country at different stores, and, uh, this is basically, like, one of those opportunities where they're able to basically, like, be the face of the brand, and these are people that have raised their hand and said, I want to be a part of this program, this program [00:48:00] being that spotlight program I referenced, and then, These six associates that we have been working with have just, like, really loved this medium.
One of them is a journalist major, so this has been just, like, great experience for him to, like, be in a live setting, because these are truly live, uh, to field questions from people that are watching live. Um, and so, yeah, it's
Marc Beckman: like, like, for that, for that young associate, that, that soon to be journalist? Like, how many people is that individual speaking to? How, how, how big are these live streams?
Justin Breton: Yeah, so I mean, you know, obviously it's a spectrum, right? So like when we're going live with Drew Barrymore, she's, she's drawing her fans, right? So she's bringing them in, there's a paid media tech, there's a whole strategy, right? To bring people in and support those livestreams. So those numbers obviously skew a little bit higher, but our associate led livestreams.
which have similar media tactics supporting them are bringing in anywhere from 25 to 50, 000 people over the course of a week. So you've got obviously the live moment, which, you know, you think about a live stream, you think [00:49:00] about that live moment.
Because that content lives on, and that content can be distributed across walmart. com, people can come back and watch it, like for example, the home, the um, Heart Tools example I referenced, you might watch that live stream on Sunday, when it's live. Decide to buy a couple of those products to round out what you need to do the DIY project.
Order them online on Monday, get them Wednesday, and then on Friday and Saturday, do the project that you watched on Sunday. Because that video content
Marc Beckman: Again, it's an immersive experience for the
consumer, right? It's like, again, you're modernizing, you're delivering through technology, but you're modernizing in both cases in Walmart land, as well as in, in, um, the live stream, uh, vertical consumers are participating. They're doing, they're acting with the brand.
Justin Breton: That's right. Yeah, it's, it's again, it's like outside of the four walls of Walmart and to be able to give a [00:50:00] fan of Drew Barrymore or Reed Drummond or Ashley Graham or John Legend, the opportunity to like, ask questions live and to get your question chosen and have it be answered by somebody that you love, like, that's another one of those examples of like, that's a really positive brand experience.
Like that will make you like, Jon Legend has a skincare line at Walmart called Loved One, um, that, yeah, that he launched earlier this year. And so he, it's doing great, and, and I think he enjoyed, like, the livestream medium. It gave him, you know, of course, of course there's ads, and there's a social handle, and there's content that's produced to talk about the values of the brand and the ingredients, and, you know, they've done a great job of building the brand, but this is him.
Sitting in a room with a partner just talking about the why and the ingredients and it's, it's not scripted. It's like so authentic and relatable, which is why I [00:51:00] think these live streams are resonating. And so, um, the brand is doing well based on my knowledge. And, um, I'm glad that he chose us to partner with to talk about it.
Marc Beckman: So, Justin, it must be so exciting for you to be able to have like such massive star power to activate these innovative verticals. So you have, you mentioned Halsey has product at the store, Drew Barrymore, John Legend. Who else?
Justin Breton: Sofia Vergara, she's got a jean line, um, at Walmart, that's also, that's also very successful. Um, my gosh, who else? We have a long roster of, of celebrity partners who, quite frankly, like kudos to our, our merchant team who is meeting with these potential partners and, and, and brokering relationships with them that are mutually beneficial and exciting and You know, we've been a partner of Free Drummins for many, many, many years.
She's a partner of the Walmart Live platform. She's gone live with us, I think six times. Um, but I
Marc Beckman: the merchants? you ask the [00:52:00] mer I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you ask the merchants to like, consider your verticals now to activate the celebrities? Like, is that part of the negotiation when you're bringing celebrity lines into the, into the, the community?
Justin Breton: yeah. I mean, I, I think it's like one of those things where it's like. It's a differentiator for us. And so, you know, in some instances, somebody might come to Walmart, but they might also be going to Target. They might be going to Amazon. They might be going to Walgreens and they're trying to get the best distribution deal that they can get, which makes sense.
Everybody should do that. Um, I would do that if I had the problem. Maybe someday I will have a product and I'll have to do that. Um, yeah, I will. And so, you know, when they're having these conversations, if our merchants can say, like, we'd love to collaborate with you on something virtual in our Roblox experience.
If nobody else can bring them that. That is gonna get their brand in front of a younger demographic.
Marc Beckman: let the celebrity monetize like a digital wearable or some sort of a digital asset? Because that scalability could be, that could outpace anything in the [00:53:00] physical realm, really.
Justin Breton: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's 100%. That's 100 percent how we're thinking about it, as we
Marc Beckman: Do you have any of that planned yet?
Justin Breton: Um, I cannot say what's to come, but maybe, um, in Season 2 of your podcast, there will be a lot for us to talk about. That's what I'll say.
Marc Beckman: I love it.
Justin Breton: Yeah.
Marc Beckman: minutes left and I didn't get into like creator, which I wanted to do, but um, before we end, can I just ask you a couple of questions that are like lead ins for you personally?
Justin Breton: yeah, of course.
Marc Beckman: it doesn't necessarily have to fit into Walmart, but like, as an expert, as a leader in tech, Justin, I'm curious, um, let's play with the word some future day, right?
The show's name. So, in your mind, some future day, in some future day, retail will be,
Justin Breton: Virtual.
Marc Beckman: my sentence, some, in some future day, retail will [00:54:00] be,
Justin Breton: Do you want me to say in, do you want me to say the full sentence? Do you want me to just finish your sentence?
Marc Beckman: you could say the whole thing, whatever you prefer. I just want to have some fun with you predicting like as a
Justin Breton: that. I like
Marc Beckman: yeah, let's, let's see you. I want to see, I want to get, because you're at the forefront, you see what's working, what's not working. Like you spoke to me about influencer marketing, social media, metaverse, retail, immersive experiences, URL meets IRL.
We spoke about TikTok, like we're hitting all these things. So in your mind, in some future day, retail will be?
Justin Breton: So some future day, retail will be the convergence of commerce, content, socializing, and experiences.
Marc Beckman: Okay, the second thing I wanted to ask you, again, going back to tech, and this is a Justin question, it doesn't have to apply to Walmart, but in some future day... Because I think often, let me, let me just get, let me tee it up for you. I often think in terms of like these [00:55:00] connective technologies. You might have heard me talk about these concepts where what they're doing really is creating communities and networks that aren't necessarily in the four walls of, of Walmart or in the four or within the walls of Roblox.
But these connective technologies allow for people all over the world So, to come together with shared values with, you know, similar missions and goals. They don't have to be in a box. So, to me, um, autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles are really important and play into connectivity. So, for your mindset, and this could play back into like, again, the physical shopping experience or the digital shopping experience, but in your mind, in some future day, automobiles will be...
Justin Breton: Um, okay. Let me think. Give me a minute.
Marc Beckman: Take a second.
Justin Breton: Um, yeah, yeah. Um, also how was my last answer? Did that make sense?
Marc Beckman: [00:56:00] Beautiful.
Justin Breton: Okay, um,
Marc Beckman: I'm not kidding. It was beautiful.
Justin Breton: okay, let me think.
Okay, I'm gonna make like a bold statement. Okay,
Marc Beckman: Go.
Justin Breton: okay,
Marc Beckman: We're going to use it for marketing.
Justin Breton: great. Alright, in some future day, I believe retail parking lots like Walmart's will have a value add purpose to automobile owners, specifically those that drive electric vehicles.
Marc Beckman: I love that. That's good. All right. I got one last, one last,
Justin Breton: One last zinger.
Marc Beckman: day, one last, some future day. You ready?
Justin Breton: Yeah, you see I'm sweating.
Marc Beckman: So in, in some future day, So, you know, Some Future Day was actually inspired by, um, [00:57:00] I loved literature. I still do, but when I was young, I loved James Joyce and, and the concept of future day is where the names, where I came up with the name, Some Future Day.
It was a James Joyce concept. Um, so, um, let's, let's turn technology on its head a little bit. In Some Future Day, the metaverse will be,
Justin Breton: Good one. Okay.
In some future day, the metaverse will be democratized and be accessible to everybody,
Marc Beckman: I love it.
Justin Breton: which I don't think it is today. So I'm hoping that in the future it will be.
Marc Beckman: You don't think it is.
Justin Breton: No. I think, what I think is that it's, there are certain like for example, the way in which people describe the metaverse is You know, it's, it's not defined, right?
I think like the way in which we might describe it is different than other people and so With that I think [00:58:00] it makes it confusing to people which I think inherently makes it feel not accessible. Like my mom I can't even have a conversation with her about it. I was like, I'm launching something on Roblox She was like, is that like Nintendo?
And I was like, I can't do this. So I think like as more and more platforms evolve and you'll see some of the work that we're gonna do later this year The intent with some of that work is for it to be truly accessible, meaning you don't have to feel like I'm not a gamer, I'm not a Roblox player, I can't use that.
Like it's meant to be almost like a 2. 5 in a slowly evolving 3. 0 world, if that makes
Marc Beckman: So education is a big part of that, like, here's something funny, like, I was talking to an old close friend of mine last night. This guy named David, and he was like always like this sci fi, futuristic, like we looked at him like a weirdo. He was always a weirdo. Like he memorized every Star Trek, every Star Wars, like Battlestar Galactica, like he was that guy.
[00:59:00] And I couldn't have a conversation with him about the Metaverse and Web 3. He couldn't understand the value of minting an item on a blockchain. He was literally asking me, it came in the context of he wanted to know if I wanted to purchase a Jackson Pollock, an original Jackson Pollock from his parents.
And I said to him, you know, is there a certificate of authenticity? And he said, no, and I said, it might be a good idea for you to consider creating an NFT to, you know, to back up that real world asset. And he couldn't get into it. So like, and he's, he's like science sci fi guy. So
Justin Breton: yeah, yeah.
Marc Beckman: that next generation, your mom, my friend, David, like what, where's the learning curve?
How do they, how do they learn?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I mean, I think, I think, like, it's got to be, like, super easy. Like, you got to almost, like, like, with, with some of the stuff that we're exploring and, and the way in which we're talking about it internally, which is, like, around, like, democratizing access and making it more accessible, it's like, it's, it's just got to be easy [01:00:00] to begin with, and it already will feel Totally agree.
immersive and it will feel innovative and it will feel new and everything we do is going to be high fidelity and we'll look to do innovation and it's not that we're only targeting an older audience like the intent is to target a broader audience but the value to each of those respective audiences might be a little bit different and that will be intentional and so I think like there's just so much confusing confusion which is like leading to people's Reactions where they're like, I just don't want to touch it because there's they're reading things that maybe aren't true or their perception of it is, is, is wrong.
But I think like once things become easier, and it becomes more accessible, I think people's willingness to do things will change.
Marc Beckman: But brands like, you know, but fashion brands, like, as you're aware, like, I know you have good taste, like luxury brands and, um, cool, like fitness brands from Bulgari to Tiffany from [01:01:00] Vuitton to Dior, like just this in the past two weeks, we've seen launches from literally Louis Vuitton and Dior, like incredible launches.
They're all embracing this technology. They know that it's there, and it's not, you know, like when Louis Vuitton launched those 40, 000 boxes, that's not appealing to my 15 year old son. You know, frankly, that's not even appealing to me. I can't buy that right now. So, you know, I think there's... People know that we're on the cusp of, you know, I think, mass integration of this technology to enhance people's lives, to enhance experiences, to create more value on different multiples.
But we gotta get over the hurdle of, of education. I think the best way to do it is like, when a company like Walmart comes on board, and they're getting, Um, they're creating these platforms for people to participate, whether it's in the metaverse, in Roblox, live streaming, the creator vertical also, I wish we had more time because I think it's fantastic what you guys are doing.
Just people learn, integrative learning, experiential learning, I think is the [01:02:00] most powerful tool to get more generations and more people to, to come on board and adopt.
Justin Breton: Yeah, I agree. I agree. That's what we're here to do.
Marc Beckman: I love it. All right, um, anything else that you want to, you want to state or you're thinking about that we didn't cover, Justin? I want
Justin Breton: don't think so. I feel like pretty good. This was like, it went by so fast. It went
Marc Beckman: I know, I know, I feel like I could talk to you for a long time.
Justin Breton: I know. Same. No, I, again, I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you for thinking of me. Um, yeah. And, and I hope that like, we, I, I hope I sounded smart. I often like, I like blackout. So I, I hope, hope everything I said was smart.
Marc Beckman: Awesome. You're, you're awesome. I wouldn't ask you to come on board if I didn't believe in you. I think it's awesome and I really appreciate you participating.
Justin Breton: Of course, yeah, and I'm excited for, um, yeah, I'm excited for you to see some of the work that we've got coming.
Marc Beckman: Cool. How'd we do, Jon?
Justin Breton: How do we do?[01:03:00]
Marc Beckman: All right, Justin. I am so excited to have you join some future day. It's really a pleasure and an honor to have you today. When we first met, I thought you were a true visionary as it relates to technology, your vision as to applying technology into the world of retail, and at such a massive scale. So before we get into Walmart specifically, I'm curious, how do you envision The future of retail as all of these new technologies are entering the marketplace.
Justin Breton: Yeah, well, first, thank you for having me. Um, it's great to see you again and I'm excited to be here. You know, I think I, I'm fortunate to be on a team that is tasked with thinking about like what's next and the way in which we think about like the what's next is really as it relates to Walmart or really [01:04:00] retail in general.
It's like, how do you engage with customers outside of the traditional four walls? And by four walls, I don't just mean in this instance, a Walmart store. I mean, Beyond the website, beyond the app, and as we think about these emerging platforms and these new technologies, they really present an opportunity for us to meet customers in new ways and give them opportunities to engage with us in a way where we're adding value, it's maybe shifting their perception, and hopefully, it's leading to them making purchases at Walmart.
And so, as I think about, like, the future of retail and The value these emerging platforms and new technologies can bring, I think it's, it's actually quite grand, and I think you're seeing many brands, uh, adopt these platforms and technologies probably faster than ever before, and I think they're learning, and they're optimizing, and I think what you're seeing is that customers are actually [01:05:00] responding positively, and so I think there's a lot of opportunity, um, and so I think this, this, this landscape Uh, it's, it's very exciting, which you alluded to, as you said, like, I, I appreciate you calling me a visionary, um, and, and I, I think that there's just, there's so much opportunity, and, and I think we're, quite frankly, like, just at the beginning of it.
Marc Beckman: So when you talk about meeting new customers or introducing new customers to Walmart or the retail landscape, there's always this default in the marketplace. Technology equals young. Technology equals Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I call it Gen Zalpha. Is that really your goal here, or do you feel like technology can speak to every age profile across all the demographics?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I mean, I think that there's an opportunity to use these platforms and technologies to speak to everybody. I mean, with, with. Walmart landed on Roblox, which was, which was our big launch last year in this, this space. So Roblox is certainly an established platform when [01:06:00] you look at the number of users that are actively going onto the platform daily.
But it is emerging in the sense that their technology is advancing pretty rapidly. More and more brands are creating brand destinations on that platform. That particular platform skews Young, but it's starting to age up. And so when you have conversations with people, they immediately say, well, Roblox is for kids.
But if you look at the data, it's actually starting to skew older. So more than 50% of people on Roblox are actually older than 16, despite what people think about that particular audience. But as you look at what brands like Bloomingdale's have done, or what Lacoste has done with building their own virtual destination, those are actually skewing.
Much older. And when we meet with these platform partners to just get an understanding of what, what, what partners are doing in this space, it is suggesting that. You know, when you build something for an audience, if it's built with the intent of adding value, they will come, [01:07:00] and that audience may, in that instance, actually be older.
Um, and so, I do think these platforms and technologies can actually, like, span the spectrum. But, it, you know, if you want to show up meaningfully, you gotta, like, play into the audience. So, when we show up on Roblox, we're talking to that audience, but when we show up on other platforms, or if we use other technologies, it might be a different audience.
But, collectively... It's valuing the brand.
Marc Beckman: So it's really interesting what Roblox has done beyond the brands that you name dropped. Um, certainly they've skewed older and I think a different profile of customers as it relates to brands that they've launched with, you know, for example, NARS Cosmetics, Gucci. Allo Yoga. Um, in fact, the Allo Yoga exercise on Roblox, I think, is super compelling.
Um, what they've done is they've created this land or this environment, this immersive experience called Allo Sanctuary, which you must be familiar with. And what they're doing is they're [01:08:00] encouraging
Justin Breton: Mm hmm.
Marc Beckman: And you go into the sanctuary and you meditate. And if somebody's participating and they meditate a certain amount of times, they're actually rewarded. They're gifted with a digital piece of merchandise. For example, their goat. Their iconic goat jacket has now been gifted to over 500, 000 users. NARS Cosmetics gave away to, um, almost 100 million individuals a color palette that could be used to paint an avatar.
So from your perspective, When you interact, when Walmart interacts with the consumer, are you trying to create additional value through new merchandising experiences and through new digital immersive experiences on the Roblox platform? And if so, how?
Justin Breton: Yeah, what a great question. And I love the examples that you, you referenced very familiar with aloe and very familiar with, um, what NARS Cosmetics did, and, and [01:09:00] they're very much a big fan of, of what they were able to, to launch and, and how they've engaged with the community. So I I love that those are the examples you used with Walmart land.
We, we very much put an emphasis on experiences over like products. And so what we built was very much anchored in. Key insights that were shared with us by Roblox, key insights that we were able to gather in partnership with partners that were helping us develop and effectively like launch this experience.
And what we found is that like self expression was really important and so we created experiences that aligned nicely with that, shared. All of those moments or shared experiences were important, so we created experiences that aligned with that, one of them being a virtual music festival, uh, that launched two weeks after our initial launch.
We invited Youngblood, Kane Brown, and Madison Beer into the experience as virtual performers who performed in a virtual music festival, and if you're like, I don't know who those [01:10:00] people are, that's good, that means that I did my job. Um...
Marc Beckman: Come on, everybody knows Youngblood and
Justin Breton: Yeah, oh my god, there you go, yeah, uh,
Marc Beckman: that Madison Beer is coming out with some new music and everybody's touting that it's going to be massive. It's going to be her breakthrough moment,
Justin Breton: Oh, good. Well, I hope so because she was lovely to work with and it was great. It was great to give her fans an experience in this Walmart land destination. Um, and, and, and again, like we really put an emphasis on experiences. As we look to evolve our presence on the Roblox platform and we use our learnings from this initial launch, I think, The way in which we engage with the community will probably evolve.
And so experiences will always be a part of it. But how do we actually start to use learnings from what we've done, but also learnings from brands like Alloyoga, Nars Cosmetics, and other brands on the platform who have had great success, uh, to effectively... Give the community something that is sort of this [01:11:00] sweet spot of all the things that they desire on that platform.
And in that instance, it's a younger demographic.
Marc Beckman: so, Justin, in, in regards to, let's take, for example, the self expression component, what value does Walmart have when it connects with a consumer and gives that consumer the ability in Walmart land to express themselves?
Justin Breton: Yeah. So in this particular, uh, like that particular vein of like self expression, like what we did was we effectively took. Categories that exist at Walmart, so fashion and beauty, which are often closely associated with self expression, you know, you're wearing clothing, you're putting makeup on, and you're doing so in a way that, um, is representative of who you are.
On a platform like Roblox, You know, currently I have dark hair, but I, in a virtual version of myself, could have pink hair, could decide to wear skirts, could decide [01:12:00] to just be somebody that I'm not in the real world. And so in Walmart land, we kind of celebrated that and encouraged people to try on virtual items from various assortments from Walmart.
Uh, we created experiences aligned with beauty that sort of like loosely associate, were associated with self expression. We created this like Big Udi Abhi. Um, for those of you listening that don't know what an Abhi is, it's an obstacle course. Uh, but that Abhi was made up of oversized versions of products that are available at Walmart, all targeted to Gen Z.
So it was almost like, here's a virtual experience that's... that's loosely aligned to self expression, featuring products that maybe you didn't even know Walmart sold, like AF94, which is Halsey's beauty brand, but Walmart's a destination for that product. And so we almost used it as a way to drive engagement, but also create awareness through that lens of self expression of us as a destination, one virtually, but also physically and digitally for these goods.
Marc Beckman: So that's some huge [01:13:00] stuff that you're talking about, literally, like when you talk about star power of Youngblood and Halsey and Madison Beer and beyond, do they participate with you in helping shape those experiences and in connecting at that expressive way?
Justin Breton: yeah. Oh, that's such a good question. Yeah, I mean like we had like Youngblood and Kane Brown and Madsen like in a studio in LA wearing one of those like cool full body suits with all the little dots that track movements and you know they would perform a song and they would say that didn't feel right.
Let's do it again. And we would show them like how their moves were translating into what would effectively be their And so they had a hand in sort of like what that avatar looked like. They very much were involved in, uh, the process of designing what they wore on stage. Each of them changed what they were wearing on stage once.
So they had their opening act outfit and then they had their closing outfit and they, they were very involved. [01:14:00] Um, and so it was great to be able to give somebody like a Youngblood, Kane Brown and a Madison Beer. Like. A platform to reach people globally. Um, and, and, you know, I was in the concert when it was happening and like, people were like, Oh my God, like, thank you, Walmart.
And like, that felt so nice. Like, that was
Marc Beckman: So what kind of a, so, so like focusing on, yeah. So focusing on that, when you say that's what you were hoping for, like is what What is it that Walmart or a brand could gain from that emotional connection, right? When that fan, whether it's a Halsey fan or a Madison beer fan makes the connection in a Walmart metaversal space, what's the carry over to Walmart?
Does that equate with regards to stronger brand equity, stronger brand awareness? Is there a transaction that occurs with it as well?
Justin Breton: Yeah. So with, with Walmart Land on Roblox, like what we found is that people that engaged with the brand on the platform had a 10 percent lift in brand [01:15:00] favorability and a 21 percent lift in likelihood to recommend. And so people that were engaging with us outside of the traditional four walls were maybe Pleasantly surprised and, uh, enjoyed the concert experience. Had fun during our holiday update. Like there was something that happened on a platform that they love with a brand that maybe they thought one thing about, but this virtual experience actually helped shift their perception of the brand in a.
In a positive way. And so, quite frankly, like, I mean, there were things that we did that were complete misses that, like, probably made people think differently about Walmart. But then there were things that we did that were home runs that made people think differently about Walmart in that lens. And so I think through this initial launch, we learned a lot and we're going to use that to inform again, like, what we do on future platforms and with new technologies.
But overall, I think it was really effective at driving positive brand favorability.
Marc Beckman: Justin, like when you say there were complete [01:16:00] misses and you can learn, isn't, isn't the metaverse really a space now, consumer facing? Like I know the, I know the retail trade publications and the retail media could be a little brutal at times. Aren't the complete misses consumer facing kind of accepted these days?
Like they understand that Walmart's putting themselves out there. They're taking a risk to enhance my experience with the brand and it's okay for it to be, to tinker a little bit. Like what, do you see a difference between, um, a complete miss that's consumer facing versus like the way that, you know, this, this media moment is, um, behaving?
Justin Breton: Yeah, that's, I have to probably be careful what I say because, um, I have so many thoughts about this, um, yeah, I think, you know, we are a brand that often has, as I, I don't know how else to say it, but like we have a target on our back, like we're easy to pick on, um, we, we, we can do the, the biggest [01:17:00] gesture in the world and it would be perceived as not enough, um, and so, Yeah.
We always, as we enter new, new platforms, or we test new mediums, know that whatever we're doing might come with scrutiny, but we have to do it because we have to learn and the landscape of social platforms, like Threads just launched last week, is is constantly going to evolve. New technology is going to continue to introduce, be introduced, like AI.
These platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft are going to continue to grow. Like we have to show up. And so like when I say complete mess, I mean, things like, you know, we didn't have in our first experience, like a strong gameplay loop. And what we learned pretty quickly is that you need that because that actually like drives repeat visits that also drives a higher time spent in the experience.
And so. We course corrected and we added that in and that was always our approach with the initial [01:18:00] rollout, which was like, let's not do zero to 100 with this rollout. Let's, let's slowly roll it out to learn as we go. And, and that's what we did. But I think like when you looked at the metrics and you, you would compare against other experiences, like we were.
A little bit behind. We caught up, but those types of things, uh, you know, you kind of have to do it to know. And so, while I think you're right, like, people kind of, like, are forgiving, and I think that the community on Roblox is very forgiving, they're also very vocal. And so, like, when we launched, when we launched, I felt like I was,
Marc Beckman: right? They start kicking off all of their own videos in game, criticizing the different experiences and all, right? The influencers came after you a little bit.
Justin Breton: I mean, it was fun. Like, we, I mean, like, there were thousands of videos about Walmartland before we even launched because, like, the virtual item we were giving away, um, at launch, like, leaked [01:19:00] somehow. And I mean, there were just thousands of videos. I mean, it was like nothing. I had never seen anything like it before.
And I was like, this is wild. This is millions of impressions with no dollars behind it. And it is, people are excited, and then we launched, and then people went into the experience, and you then had thousands. More pieces of content on YouTube and TikTok and Twitter. And, you know, some of it was good. Some of it was bad.
All of it was extremely helpful in making us smarter. And ideally, like, you know, we want to be a brand that is like community driven. Like, if you think about Walmart in the physical world, like we play a really important role in communities. Like we give back to communities and, and, and, and I think like, that's what we need to try to manifest in.
These virtual worlds, which is like, let's take our brand loves in the real world and actually manifest them virtually.
Marc Beckman: So on an individual level, just going back [01:20:00] to your concept of self expression, Um, it's kind of interesting to see the evolution of a platform like Roblox or Minecraft or Fortnite where people from all over the world, strangers, could engage. And if you go back like 10 years ago or so, um, Adults were scared that their children were going to, um, meet people with bad intentions.
There was, like, always this guarded thing. But it seems now that it's turned into something that is fairly safe. And it gives individuals the ability to, as you said, appear in a way that they want to appear. Whether that means putting on makeup or wearing a particular dress or, you know, perhaps it's a... Uh, uh, a person that identifies, um, as a girl, but, um, wants to, you know, in the real world doesn't feel comfortable yet, dressing like a, like a girl.
Um, don't you feel like we've shifted, uh, [01:21:00] as, as a culture and as a society now? And part of that shift is because spaces like, um, Walmart land in Roblox provide a safe environment for self expression. And doesn't that strengthen. The relationship between the consumer and, uh, the Walmart fan and the brand.
Justin Breton: Yeah, I definitely think so. And I think that just the robots platform in general and even like a Fortnite or a Minecraft, like, I think those platforms, based on my knowledge, and I'm certainly I'm not an expert in this, but like, you know, my knowledge of these platforms is that they take security, like, very seriously and, you know, like, Roblox has just recently, like, rolled out some, some new policies around, like, tagging experiences as advertising versus not, and if it's tagged as an advertising, no one under the age of 13 can come into it, and so, like, It is becoming a platform that's becoming even more transparent.[01:22:00]
But to your point, like there are, there are 60 million plus daily active users that are going onto this platform. Maybe they're navigating into brand experiences. Maybe they're going into their favorite game, but like they are able to be who they want to be. And I think parents feel comfortable with them being on these platforms because of the safeguards that are in place.
But yes, when somebody navigates to a brand experience and that brand experience gives them Something that allows them to be who they want to be, I think that that is very rewarding and it's a mutually beneficial reward. It's rewarding to the user but it's also rewarding to the brand because it's a positive experience and I think we want to like continue to like make those moments happen.
Um, be it that example you shared where it's somebody that's coming in and they can express themselves as whoever they want to be or it's somebody coming in and like Again, just having a really fun time, the positive experience with the brand and like those are real big wins.
Marc Beckman: I agree. I agree. I mean, so did you expect to [01:23:00] have millions and millions of visitors? I think the last stat I saw was 18 million people participated in Walmart land. And like you said, you had all this additional influencers creating content. Is that something you expected? Did that surpass your expectations?
Because those are big numbers, even for the biggest retailer on the planet. Those are really impressive numbers.
Justin Breton: Yeah. I mean, I should say like, you know, like we are not, we're not the biggest experience on the platform. There are other experiences that have had bigger numbers, but like, and we, we, we sort of did our research before we launched to say, like, these are the goals that we're hoping to achieve in this timeframe.
These are the tactics that we're going to use to hit these goals. And, and, yeah. Within two weeks, we had surpassed our goal significantly, and we had sort of set our goal on a monthly basis. We were like, in our first month, this is what we aspire to achieve, and I think the number was like 5. 2 million, and within two weeks, we were at 7.
4 million, [01:24:00] um, something like that. So it felt really great to say, like, well, people are interested, people are coming, they're engaging with the brand, all this content's being generated. So that was, I think, like... The plan, like we were hoping for that, um, certainly have exceeded where I thought we were going to be at this point in the experience, this life stage being at 18 plus million.
Thank you. Um, what I did not expect is all of the user generated content. Like, I just did not see that coming. I didn't realize how, like, that's just a part of that generation's lifestyle. Like, they are creating content. about their avatars in these experiences, and they are blasting it out daily. And I just, I didn't realize that that was such a thing, and I mean, the amount of content, like I said earlier, that was created in such [01:25:00] a short period of time, just was mind boggling.
And so we started to actually use that in our, to benefit our efforts as we introduce new things.
Marc Beckman: So can you expand on that concept a little bit?
Justin Breton: Yeah, so we, so we launched, and we saw all of this content get generated, which was, which again, was really exciting and unexpected. Um, I always like to say this, so I'm just gonna say it, like, there was a video from a very prominent and popular YouTube gamer about Walmart Land that was the number one trending gaming video on YouTube within 24 hours of our, of our launch, and he did a full review of the experience, and he was, Very constructive.
Like he didn't go in and say, this is bad. Or, you know, he was like, wow, they did a really good job in their first kind of, to your point earlier, people being forgiving and thoughtful about like brands are trying. And, um, he, he created this video and there were millions of people that watched it within 24 hours.
So what we saw was with all of this user generated content, as we [01:26:00] introduce. New updates to the experience, when we would include a free, like, user generated item, which is basically like a free virtual item that you unlock once you complete a game, an experience, and it basically becomes something that you collect.
You collect these virtual items, you can wear them on your avatars. Every time we would introduce a new virtual item, it would, the flywheel of content would start. And so, we started to sort of, like, tease the new. Virtual items were coming, and we would see a spike in visits and searches, and then the second that that item dropped, the content...
And of course we were using our learnings from our initial launch to improve the gameplay loop. So we saw time spent increase, we saw repeat visits increase because again, we were like using those, those, those learnings to inform these, these updates, but [01:27:00] that started to become a part of our strategy. And so we released four additional virtual items and there's content about each of them, which, which is great.
Marc Beckman: Do you have a number or can you share a number with regards to, um, when you started to plateau or peak with regards to the amount of time fans were spending in Walmart land? How much, how much time was that? And, you know, is that more valuable than just, is the immersive experience and the time that people are in there playing and socializing and expressing themselves more valuable for Walmart than producing a, you know, broadcast television commercial and speaking at the consumer?
Justin Breton: That's a really good question. So, we, we, our peak time spent was after our final update, which had a, to contextualize that, when we first launched, it was, you know, a fantasy island in the sky, the island looked like the Walmart Spark, So there were six Spark Arms, or what we called aisles, when we [01:28:00] launched, two of the six aisles were available.
At our final launch, or our final rollout, which occurred at the beginning of February, all six of those aisles were basically live. And there was a cross world, uh, cross Walmart land scavenger hunt that... Led to people spending 20 minutes in the experience. And what was great is you went from sort of this like Serenity Isle outdoor experience to the Beauty Obby to the Entertainment Isle.
So it was a great way to sort of showcase the full world, um, through gamification. So we peaked at 20 minutes. That was like our highest time span. And we kind of hovered around there for about 12. I mean, that is huge. If you think about.
Marc Beckman: number. Yeah, that's massive.
Justin Breton: It's massive. And, and, you know, that was the peak. So like our average is significantly lower than that, but I mean, even if you look at when we launched, time spent being, you know, you know, it hovered between like three and five minutes, like that is a lot longer than somebody looking at a TikTok video or [01:29:00] an Instagram post or anything on social platforms.
Like that is a lot of time spent with a brand. And so if you can harness that in a way that is All about positivity or it's about discovery or community engagement or an experience and it's leading to that positive feeling with a brand. That's really huge. And so I think this younger generation. Gen Alpha, Gen Z, like, they are going to put more of an emphasis on, acts and not ads.
And so, when you are in a virtual experience and you are engaging with a brand through their acts, I think that that is going to be more beneficial to a brand than, like, a 15 second spot during the Super Bowl, um, which is easy to, you're competing with so many other people. You know, your audience isn't nearly as captive as when they're in your experience.
Marc Beckman: So the benefit for the brand then in that immersive [01:30:00] experience is versus broadcast television is the fact that the consumer or the fan is there longer and they're participating, experiencing the brand versus being spoken to. Is that, is that your point?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, like, like the idea of like, you know, these acts and not ads is like, sort of how we like to talk about the work that our team does, which is like, how do we story do and not just story tell? And make sure, yeah, to your point, that it's like, you know, this captive audience that's engaging with you versus like, potentially watching a commercial and being on a secondary device.
Marc Beckman: So it's pretty cool. The Walmart community, I'm sorry, but like what you're saying is like the Walmart community really did create a full experience with your company, with the brand, like they helped shape it. They helped create the communications. They participated early on. They had, you took on some feedback and pivoted and adjusted to enrich that experience, which, you know, clearly the numbers show that, that [01:31:00] you, um, were rewarded with those decisions.
It's pretty interesting.
Justin Breton: Yeah. And I mean, I think one of our biggest learnings is engage with the community sooner, like there's there, this is, uh, this is a space where there are so many people that are creators that have great ideas that are building their own experiences that are creating their own virtual items. Like there's no reason why they shouldn't be.
A part of the evolution of these brand experiences because they have so much value to add. Um, the same way 10, 15 years ago, brands started to engage with influencers on social platforms. And you think about the evolution of that, I mean, that's a whole huge ecosystem. Um, and I think we'll see something similar on these platforms.
Marc Beckman: So, so then, beyond the marketing value and the positive consumer sentiment that Walmart benefited, uh, from, from building in the metaverse, [01:32:00] uh, was there a monetary payoff? Was there a commercial component to it all?
Justin Breton: So, with our first foray onto the Roblox platform, there was no sort of monetary element in the actual experience. So, you weren't buying virtual goods, you were, through meaningful engagement or meaningful experiences, you were unlocking in world currency that you could use to basically buy these goods.
And so, that was a strategic decision to sort of like use our first foray. on to the platform to get a foundational understanding of like, how do we build an always on evergreen destination, uh, that effectively could support monetization. We did, however, launch a partnership with the Roblox gift card team that we launched in December of last year.
It was the first of its kind, where when you bought a Roblox gift card at Walmart, You unlocked a free virtual item, and that free virtual item had a special feature in Walmart Land. And so, what's so great about [01:33:00] that is it ties the sale of a physical good, the gift card in this instance, to something meaningful in a virtual experience.
And as we think about continuing to evolve and learn in this space, How do we go deeper there? And what is the intersection of like virtual to physical? Or how do you take something that you're buying digitally that then you get physically that then also manifests virtually? Like there's so much opportunity and I think we're a brand that is set up to do some really fun and innovative things and so that test in December led to an always on Uh, sort of, partnership where we promoted the Roblox gift card, the free virtual item, uh, on a monthly basis.
And so, um, yeah, it was great, it was a really fun test, it was the first time they had done it, and we learned a lot.
Marc Beckman: So, as an agency, we are often talking to our clients about building out these URL meets IRL verticals, and you're touching on that a little bit, but I [01:34:00] think what's even more interesting to get into with you right now, since you made that connection back to the physical gift cards, is this concept of what I refer to as an infinity loop.
between the digital Walmart experience and the physical Walmart experience. And I wonder in your, in your, uh, planning, did you think a little bit more as to how the consumer that's already at brick and mortar can then enter the metaverse and have a richer, deeper experience? Um, we often see a lot of retailers just replicating like a, a four walled In store experience, go in and it's pixelated, buy some flip flops, buy a t shirt, buy a hoodie, and get out.
But we love the idea of enriching, almost in like a dream like way, where if one of your core values or pillars of a brand is, um, music, or art, or... You know, health and wellness. Can you enhance that in the metaversal space [01:35:00] to build a stronger infinity loop? So those, those values and benefits are not exactly the same in the physical realm as well as the digital realm, but the consumer's lives could be enhanced through this infinity loop from Walmart brick and mortar into Walmart land and Roblox.
Is that something that you've been thinking about?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I mean, like, we are always, I, I'm gonna say a word, and I don't know if I like the word, but I'm gonna say it anyway, Fidgetal. Like, we hear that said a lot, which is like, what is the physical digital intersection? I think, like... I'm going to try to make up a word. Actually, no, I'm not, because this is being recorded, but like, what's the intersection of physical, digital, and virtual?
And like, how do you actually create that infinity loop? And how do you tie those three things together in a way that feels really meaningful? I think one of our biggest learnings with, with Walmartland, and I think you were kind of alluding to this as you were talking about like the pixelated experiences that you've seen, and these like four wall, experiences in store that maybe [01:36:00] just like feel a little bit like copy and paste versus like truly pushing the boundaries and being innovative is like, whatever it is that you're doing, you have to add value to the customer's experience.
You can't just do it to check a box because if you do, it doesn't resonate. And so as we think about the connection between virtual, physical and digital, we're also always asking ourselves, well, just because we can, should we? Like, does it actually make sense? Are we adding value? And I think, like, what we're finding is that, like, there is a lot of opportunity to connect these.
And I think, uh, this is not so much a, uh, a physical to virtual as much as it's, like, a physical to digital, but we, um, you know, one of my, my colleagues works on all of our experiential strategy, and then we popped up at Something in the Water festival in Virginia Beach earlier this year. We partnered with her team.
To support a digital extension with a product drop that was supported with a [01:37:00] live stream. So what's great about that is that the physical activation is obviously for the people that are at the festival. So you've got however many people are at the festival, 15, 000, 75, 000. But the live stream... Gives it scale.
And then you start to reach millions of people, and you're giving millions of people access to a limited edition product drop that is done, uh, that was, that was done by a local artist, so it ties it back to the West Virginia community, and it's displayed on site in the physical activation, and that was a really good, I think, example of, like, that cool loop where you're creating So, Physical moments with digital extensions.
People then become interested in the festival and it was a really good experience, but again, like how do we actually start to think about physical, digital, and virtual and what that intersection is to create that loop?
Marc Beckman: So what do you think the consumers like Gen Z and Gen Alpha, what do you think they could expect [01:38:00] from Walmart, right? Like the Walmart that I know from when I was a kid is very different from what you're describing right now. It's like really exciting what you're talking about. This concept of, you know, live streaming, metaverse, digital goods, physical goods, live concerts in the metaverse.
Like we'll, we'll, we'll, the, you know, the 15 year old that's in the Midwest or in New York City or in Miami. Perceive Walmart as, you know, the cool place to go if I want to go and see, you know, the hot concert and then have exclusive access to physical merchandise kicked off from that concert. Like, is that part of, of the game plan for Walmart?
Justin Breton: I mean, I honestly, like I, the Walmart that I'm working at today also feels very different than the Walmart I grew up with in the middle of Maine 20 years ago. It's just, it feels very future forward and, and very much, and obviously that stems from like the, the [01:39:00] leadership that, that is at Walmart currently and, and they are very, um, open and willing to test and learn and, and William White, our CMO, he is fully supportive of, of my team and our efforts to engage with younger audiences and communities and, and using these emerging platforms and new technologies to do so.
And so I think you are going to continue to see Innovation from Walmart. And I think you're going to see a shift in perception of Walmart in that I don't think in In 15 years, I don't think people will think of Walmart exclusively as a store. I think people will think of Walmart as a brand that has a store, but is a digital destination that has not just everything, but has your thing and is a digital destination that has live content that has.
Virtual experiences, um, but also, outside of our owned destination, we're meeting you on platforms like Roblox. We're meeting you on platforms like TikTok. We [01:40:00] are, uh, talking to you about products via a creator or influencer that you know and love because they're a part of the Walmart Creator Program. So I think that Walmart is going to start showing up in more and more places and that's going to help shift how people think about Walmart and...
The ways in which they want to engage with Walmart, which is huge. I'm very, I feel very fortunate to be a part of it.
Marc Beckman: Yeah, I mean, it's, it's really a very lofty and exciting vision. I love it personally, especially where I sit in the community, but as you tap into more and more people, right, you already are the largest retailer in the country, probably the world. And now as you expand your, your base by scaling through the use of technology, do certain risks come with that?
Um, for example, uh, Walmart is a very family oriented, wholesome environment. It has a, it's always been. You know, for sure there's criticism, but at the core, like, it's an inclusive environment. It's, it's a fantastic place. The, the Walton family is super impressive with [01:41:00] regards to their vision and what they've built.
It's incredible, but what kind of risks come as you are kind of giving the keys to the kingdom to some of these people in the community, to creators? Like, what happens if, if they say something that could be perceived as if it's coming from The brand. What if, um, you know, something happens with some of the user generated content to promote a vertical within, um, the metaverse that you're hosting?
Um, how, how are you taking on these types of risks as you expand the community?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I mean, that's another great question. And I think, like, as we test onto new platforms and use new technologies, I think all of that comes with risk. Um, I think as we expand our network of creators, there's certainly risk. You know, I think all of the people that are supporting these various initiatives, like, are using their best judgment and best practices to, to de risk what we do.
Um, but of course, you know, you can never... [01:42:00] You never know what will happen tomorrow, um, and so it's hard to, um, it's hard to, to, of course, like, move forward knowing, like, we're 100%, you know, safe, and this is a de risked experience, but I think you have to, you have to keep testing, and you have to
Marc Beckman: But don't all brands have that issue now as, as they open vis a vis the metaverse, Web3, AI, all of it? Doesn't every brand face that type of headwind?
Justin Breton: yeah, oh my gosh, absolutely, I mean, I think, like, even with, with AI, I think there's just so many unknowns, But if you don't move now, you kind of like, lose the risk of being a first mover and learning, and then you're playing catch up, and then you're kind of like always behind. And so, I feel like you kind of have to move now, take that risk, but do that risk in a smart way for your brand and business, uh, to hopefully, Provide the customer with value, uh, that drives conversion, uh, but as AI [01:43:00] evolves and the scrutiny of AI either goes up or down, the legislation around AI gets worse or better, who knows, right?
But you've gotta, I think you've gotta move now in order, at least as it relates to emerging platforms and new technologies, to be a player in the space,
Marc Beckman: So let's segue then. You started touching on on the live stream shopping on on, I think you call it Walmart Shop Live. I think it's a, you know, is it a joint venture or a partnership with, um, which is it called Shop Live?
Justin Breton: It's so, no, so it's, um, where it's on walmart. com now. We, two weeks ago, fully transitioned, yeah, this, this, this Walmart live shopping destination onto walmart. com proper, which is great because we proved the value. Yeah, thanks. Um, it's a huge shout out to my team who does a lot of the great work of bringing those live shifts to life.
Uh, but, yeah, it's It's, it's great that like we were able to, you know, we first launched shoppable live streams off platform. Our first was with TikTok in December of [01:44:00] 2020. We then tested on TikTok again, several more times. We expanded to include Facebook. We tested on YouTube and Twitter. We're continuing to go live on all of those platforms, but we also developed our own branded destination with the intent of starting to build.
Like a catalog of content aligned to beauty, home, fashion, home improvement, and bringing in our celebrity brand ambassadors, bringing in our supplier partners and giving them the power to effectively go live, demo their products, tell the stories about their products, talk about why they chose this pattern for their product in a way that feels very authentic and relatable.
And that destination just recently transitioned from the URL you referenced, which is walmartshoplive. com. To walmart. com backslash live and it's all there now and it's it's really fun and exciting and even with that medium We've learned a lot Mm
Marc Beckman: So it's, it's interesting because that medium in places like China have been explosive with regards to revenue [01:45:00] now for years, since before the pandemic, for years. Are you starting to see momentum and interest picking up in, in live stream shopping on the Walmart platform?
Justin Breton: Yeah, yeah. I mean, like we're seeing continued growth, which is great in terms of viewership and time spent. And then I think like we're seeing continued interest from our supplier partners and celebrity brand ambassadors. And so everyone is, I think, more aware of what shoppable live streams are today than they were two years ago, which is great.
I think there are obviously like some pretty significant differences here in the States versus what you're seeing abroad in Asia in terms of shoppable live streams and the, um, like the super app. You know, as I'm sure you are aware of, like, the super app, uh, sort of, I don't know how to even describe it, but, like, How everything lives in one app abroad and you're getting your delivery done there and you're arranging for your laundry and you're chatting with your friends but that's a lot where a lot of those shoppable live streams live and so you've got everything [01:46:00] there your payment information your shopping information we're trying to take it's frictionless exactly and so we're trying to take like things that we know work really well there and apply them here so with this transition onto walmart.
com it's now frictionless in that. You're adding products to your native walmart. com cart. If you're a Walmart plus member, you get all those benefits. Shipping is waived. If you spend more than 35, like it's we're, we're slowly working towards what we believe is the North star based on what we're seeing abroad in China.
Marc Beckman: So do you expect, um, for like the traditional live, uh, shopping networks, QVC, HSN, you expect them to disappear in years to come, given the fact that we'll continue to see growth with this type of live streaming, not just from Walmart, but from, you know, all over the place, right?
Justin Breton: Oh yeah. I mean, we're seeing, yeah. Like, um, we're seeing publishers develop live stream networks. We are seeing more and more brands adopt the medium. Actually, QVC [01:47:00] and HSN both have. Digital shoppable live stream channels now, like they are supporting this medium and meeting their customers where they are online, be it Facebook, on a branded destination, um, and effectively Going live digitally versus exclusively on like a linear TV.
And so I, I think, honestly, I think the more and more people that, that embrace it, it's, it's mutually beneficial. And so I'm always excited when I see, I think I saw like Poshmark, uh, earlier this week announced that they were starting to do
Marc Beckman: really exciting. I mean, that's really amazing. Do you see certain product categories really outperforming the other product categories? And if so, like which ones are you seeing success with?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I think like, like beauty makes a ton of sense when you think about shoppable live streams. You start with a blank face. You've got five to ten products, and by the end of the live stream, you've gone from a blank face to a Halloween [01:48:00] look, or spring glow, whatever it is, and you're seeing how the products can actually be used to create a particular look.
So in that instance, you're demoing the product, you're talking about the product features, or ingredients, or benefits, if that makes sense. But you're also seeing... The final product
Marc Beckman: So, before and after, right? Problem
Justin Breton: and after exactly. So beauty makes a ton of sense. I think fashion also makes sense, but when you're doing fashion, it's really important to have a diverse set of people on set so that the way in which this sweater looks on me might be different from how it might look on.
You know, my cousin Jason or my best friend Matt and so you have to have diversity in terms of body type and skin type to make sure that like, if people are going to buy something through shoppable live streams, they have the confidence to do so.
Marc Beckman: So, so on your livestream vertical, are the people that are selling people [01:49:00] that, are they employees of Walmart or is that open to anyone's participation?
Justin Breton: So we've got a whole sort of roster of, of partners that are going live. So we have, uh, like celebrity brand ambassadors. So for example, Drew Barrymore, she sells her flower beauty products at Walmart. She sells her beautiful home line at Walmart. So she's going live from her Talk show studio, uh, after hours, and she's talking about her products and she's, you can buy this at Walmart, she talks about why she chose certain colors.
So she's an example of a, a celebrity brand ambassador. We also have supplier partners, so Heart Tools, so we, they said beauty's a great category, another great category is home improvement. And with Heart Tools, they're going live every other month and they're effectively doing like a DIY live build along.
They're using their power tools to build these items, um, and you're, again, seeing a before and after. And the items that they're creating are easy to create [01:50:00] at home, and they're showing their products in use. Um, so that's an example of a supplier led activation. We also have Walmart Associates, and so we have Walmart Associates that are going live from their stores, uh, and it's great, it's giving them a platform to show their expertise of the products that they're selling for a seasonal moment, a particular category, um, and, and it's been really fun to see the six associates that we're working with, like, their stars rise, like, I think they were nervous with their first one,
Marc Beckman: on, on the upside financially?
Justin Breton: they, they do not financially Uh, like, get any sort of commission from them, but it, it's a part of an existing sort of Walmart associate program, uh, that the local social team runs, where we have these spotlight champions across the country at different stores, and, uh, this is basically, like, one of those opportunities where they're able to basically, like, be the face of the brand, and these are people that have raised their hand and said, I want to be a part of this program, this program [01:51:00] being that spotlight program I referenced, and then, These six associates that we have been working with have just, like, really loved this medium.
One of them is a journalist major, so this has been just, like, great experience for him to, like, be in a live setting, because these are truly live, uh, to field questions from people that are watching live. Um, and so, yeah, it's
Marc Beckman: like, like, for that, for that young associate, that, that soon to be journalist? Like, how many people is that individual speaking to? How, how, how big are these live streams?
Justin Breton: Yeah, so I mean, you know, obviously it's a spectrum, right? So like when we're going live with Drew Barrymore, she's, she's drawing her fans, right? So she's bringing them in, there's a paid media tech, there's a whole strategy, right? To bring people in and support those livestreams. So those numbers obviously skew a little bit higher, but our associate led livestreams.
which have similar media tactics supporting them are bringing in anywhere from 25 to 50, 000 people over the course of a week. So you've got obviously the live moment, which, you know, you think about a live stream, you think [01:52:00] about that live moment.
Because that content lives on, and that content can be distributed across walmart. com, people can come back and watch it, like for example, the home, the um, Heart Tools example I referenced, you might watch that live stream on Sunday, when it's live. Decide to buy a couple of those products to round out what you need to do the DIY project.
Order them online on Monday, get them Wednesday, and then on Friday and Saturday, do the project that you watched on Sunday. Because that video content
Marc Beckman: Again, it's an immersive experience for the consumer, right? It's like, again, you're modernizing, you're delivering through technology, but you're modernizing in both cases in Walmart land, as well as in, in, um, the live stream, uh, vertical consumers are participating. They're doing, they're acting with the brand.
Justin Breton: That's right. Yeah, it's, it's again, it's like outside of the four walls of Walmart and to be able to give a [01:53:00] fan of Drew Barrymore or Reed Drummond or Ashley Graham or John Legend, the opportunity to like, ask questions live and to get your question chosen and have it be answered by somebody that you love, like, that's another one of those examples of like, that's a really positive brand experience.
Like that will make you like, Jon Legend has a skincare line at Walmart called Loved One, um, that, yeah, that he launched earlier this year. And so he, it's doing great, and, and I think he enjoyed, like, the livestream medium. It gave him, you know, of course, of course there's ads, and there's a social handle, and there's content that's produced to talk about the values of the brand and the ingredients, and, you know, they've done a great job of building the brand, but this is him.
Sitting in a room with a partner just talking about the why and the ingredients and it's, it's not scripted. It's like so authentic and relatable, which is why I [01:54:00] think these live streams are resonating. And so, um, the brand is doing well based on my knowledge. And, um, I'm glad that he chose us to partner with to talk about it.
Marc Beckman: So, Justin, it must be so exciting for you to be able to have like such massive star power to activate these innovative verticals. So you have, you mentioned Halsey has product at the store, Drew Barrymore, John Legend. Who else?
Justin Breton: Sofia Vergara, she's got a jean line, um, at Walmart, that's also, that's also very successful. Um, my gosh, who else? We have a long roster of, of celebrity partners who, quite frankly, like kudos to our, our merchant team who is meeting with these potential partners and, and, and brokering relationships with them that are mutually beneficial and exciting and You know, we've been a partner of Free Drummins for many, many, many years.
She's a partner of the Walmart Live platform. She's gone live with us, I think six times. Um, but I
Marc Beckman: the merchants? you ask the [01:55:00] mer I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you ask the merchants to like, consider your verticals now to activate the celebrities? Like, is that part of the negotiation when you're bringing celebrity lines into the, into the, the community?
Justin Breton: yeah. I mean, I, I think it's like one of those things where it's like. It's a differentiator for us. And so, you know, in some instances, somebody might come to Walmart, but they might also be going to Target. They might be going to Amazon. They might be going to Walgreens and they're trying to get the best distribution deal that they can get, which makes sense.
Everybody should do that. Um, I would do that if I had the problem. Maybe someday I will have a product and I'll have to do that. Um, yeah, I will. And so, you know, when they're having these conversations, if our merchants can say, like, we'd love to collaborate with you on something virtual in our Roblox experience.
If nobody else can bring them that. That is gonna get their brand in front of a younger demographic.
Marc Beckman: let the celebrity monetize like a digital wearable or some sort of a digital asset? Because that scalability could be, that could outpace anything in the [01:56:00] physical realm, really.
Justin Breton: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's 100%. That's 100 percent how we're thinking about it, as we
Marc Beckman: Do you have any of that planned yet?
Justin Breton: Um, I cannot say what's to come, but maybe, um, in Season 2 of your podcast, there will be a lot for us to talk about. That's what I'll say.
Marc Beckman: I love it.
Justin Breton: Yeah.
Marc Beckman: minutes left and I didn't get into like creator, which I wanted to do, but um, before we end, can I just ask you a couple of questions that are like lead ins for you personally?
Justin Breton: yeah, of course.
Marc Beckman: it doesn't necessarily have to fit into Walmart, but like, as an expert, as a leader in tech, Justin, I'm curious, um, let's play with the word some future day, right?
The show's name. So, in your mind, some future day, in some future day, retail will be,
Justin Breton: Virtual.
Marc Beckman: my sentence, some, in some future day, retail will [01:57:00] be,
Justin Breton: Do you want me to say in, do you want me to say the full sentence? Do you want me to just finish your sentence?
Marc Beckman: you could say the whole thing, whatever you prefer. I just want to have some fun with you predicting like as a
Justin Breton: that. I like
Marc Beckman: yeah, let's, let's see you. I want to see, I want to get, because you're at the forefront, you see what's working, what's not working. Like you spoke to me about influencer marketing, social media, metaverse, retail, immersive experiences, URL meets IRL.
We spoke about TikTok, like we're hitting all these things. So in your mind, in some future day, retail will be?
Justin Breton: So some future day, retail will be the convergence of commerce, content, socializing, and experiences.
Marc Beckman: Okay, the second thing I wanted to ask you, again, going back to tech, and this is a Justin question, it doesn't have to apply to Walmart, but in some future day... Because I think often, let me, let me just get, let me tee it up for you. I often think in terms of like these [01:58:00] connective technologies. You might have heard me talk about these concepts where what they're doing really is creating communities and networks that aren't necessarily in the four walls of, of Walmart or in the four or within the walls of Roblox.
But these connective technologies allow for people all over the world So, to come together with shared values with, you know, similar missions and goals. They don't have to be in a box. So, to me, um, autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles are really important and play into connectivity. So, for your mindset, and this could play back into like, again, the physical shopping experience or the digital shopping experience, but in your mind, in some future day, automobiles will be...
Justin Breton: Um, okay. Let me think. Give me a minute.
Marc Beckman: Take a second.
Justin Breton: Um, yeah, yeah. Um, also how was my last answer? Did that make sense?
Marc Beckman: [01:59:00] Beautiful.
Justin Breton: Okay, um,
Marc Beckman: I'm not kidding. It was beautiful.
Justin Breton: okay, let me think.
Okay, I'm gonna make like a bold statement. Okay,
Marc Beckman: Go.
Justin Breton: okay,
Marc Beckman: We're going to use it for marketing.
Justin Breton: great. Alright, in some future day, I believe retail parking lots like Walmart's will have a value add purpose to automobile owners, specifically those that drive electric vehicles.
Marc Beckman: I love that. That's good. All right. I got one last, one last,
Justin Breton: One last zinger.
Marc Beckman: day, one last, some future day. You ready?
Justin Breton: Yeah, you see I'm sweating.
Marc Beckman: So in, in some future day, So, you know, Some Future Day was actually inspired by, um, [02:00:00] I loved literature. I still do, but when I was young, I loved James Joyce and, and the concept of future day is where the names, where I came up with the name, Some Future Day.
It was a James Joyce concept. Um, so, um, let's, let's turn technology on its head a little bit. In Some Future Day, the metaverse will be,
Justin Breton: Good one. Okay.
In some future day, the metaverse will be democratized and be accessible to everybody,
Marc Beckman: I love it.
Justin Breton: which I don't think it is today. So I'm hoping that in the future it will be.
Marc Beckman: You don't think it is.
Justin Breton: No. I think, what I think is that it's, there are certain like for example, the way in which people describe the metaverse is You know, it's, it's not defined, right?
I think like the way in which we might describe it is different than other people and so With that I think [02:01:00] it makes it confusing to people which I think inherently makes it feel not accessible. Like my mom I can't even have a conversation with her about it. I was like, I'm launching something on Roblox She was like, is that like Nintendo?
And I was like, I can't do this. So I think like as more and more platforms evolve and you'll see some of the work that we're gonna do later this year The intent with some of that work is for it to be truly accessible, meaning you don't have to feel like I'm not a gamer, I'm not a Roblox player, I can't use that.
Like it's meant to be almost like a 2. 5 in a slowly evolving 3. 0 world, if that makes
Marc Beckman: So education is a big part of that, like, here's something funny, like, I was talking to an old close friend of mine last night. This guy named David, and he was like always like this sci fi, futuristic, like we looked at him like a weirdo. He was always a weirdo. Like he memorized every Star Trek, every Star Wars, like Battlestar Galactica, like he was that guy.
[02:02:00] And I couldn't have a conversation with him about the Metaverse and Web 3. He couldn't understand the value of minting an item on a blockchain. He was literally asking me, it came in the context of he wanted to know if I wanted to purchase a Jackson Pollock, an original Jackson Pollock from his parents.
And I said to him, you know, is there a certificate of authenticity? And he said, no, and I said, it might be a good idea for you to consider creating an NFT to, you know, to back up that real world asset. And he couldn't get into it. So like, and he's, he's like science sci fi guy. So
Justin Breton: Yeah, yeah,
Marc Beckman: that next generation, your mom, my friend, David, like what, where's the learning curve?
How do they, how do they learn?
Justin Breton: Yeah, I mean, I think, I think, like, it's got to be, like, super easy. Like, you got to almost, like, like, with, with some of the stuff that we're exploring and, and the way in which we're talking about it internally, which is, like, around, like, democratizing access and making it more accessible, it's like, it's, it's just got to be easy [02:03:00] to begin with, and it already will feel Totally agree.
immersive and it will feel innovative and it will feel new and everything we do is going to be high fidelity and we'll look to do innovation and it's not that we're only targeting an older audience like the intent is to target a broader audience but the value to each of those respective audiences might be a little bit different and that will be intentional and so I think like there's just so much confusing confusion which is like leading to people's Reactions where they're like, I just don't want to touch it because there's they're reading things that maybe aren't true or their perception of it is, is, is wrong.
But I think like once things become easier, and it becomes more accessible, I think people's willingness to do things will change.
Marc Beckman: But brands like, you know, but fashion brands, like, as you're aware, like, I know you have good taste, like luxury brands and, um, cool, like fitness brands from Bulgari to Tiffany from [02:04:00] Vuitton to Dior, like just this in the past two weeks, we've seen launches from literally Louis Vuitton and Dior, like incredible launches.
They're all embracing this technology. They know that it's there, and it's not, you know, like when Louis Vuitton launched those 40, 000 boxes, that's not appealing to my 15 year old son. You know, frankly, that's not even appealing to me. I can't buy that right now. So, you know, I think there's... People know that we're on the cusp of, you know, I think, mass integration of this technology to enhance people's lives, to enhance experiences, to create more value on different multiples.
But we gotta get over the hurdle of, of education. I think the best way to do it is like, when a company like Walmart comes on board, and they're getting, Um, they're creating these platforms for people to participate, whether it's in the metaverse, in Roblox, live streaming, the creator vertical also, I wish we had more time because I think it's fantastic what you guys are doing.
Just people learn, integrative learning, experiential learning, I think is the [02:05:00] most powerful tool to get more generations and more people to, to come on board and adopt.
Justin Breton: Yeah, I agree. I agree. That's what we're here to do.
Marc Beckman: I love it. All right, um, anything else that you want to, you want to state or you're thinking about that we didn't cover, Justin? I want
Justin Breton: don't think so. I feel like pretty good. This was like, it went by so fast. It went
Marc Beckman: I know, I know, I feel like I could talk to you for a long time.
Justin Breton: I know. Same. No, I, again, I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you for thinking of me. Um, yeah. And, and I hope that like, we, I, I hope I sounded smart. I often like, I like blackout. So I, I hope, hope everything I said was smart.
Marc Beckman: Awesome. You're, you're awesome. I wouldn't ask you to come on board if I didn't believe in you. I think it's awesome and I really appreciate you participating.
Justin Breton: Of course, yeah, and I'm excited for, um, yeah, I'm excited for you to see some of the work that we've got coming.
Marc Beckman: Cool. How'd we do, Jon?
Justin Breton: How do we do?[02:06:00]