Walmart, Verizon Media cater shoppable holiday content to an unusual season

Dive Brief:

Walmart and Verizon Media again partnered on a holiday campaign dubbed "30 Days of Savings" that offers consumers early access to discounts on electronics, appliances, toys and other products, per a press release. The tie-up this year addresses challenges particular to the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of the initiative, consumers can view shoppable content across Verizon Media properties, including HuffPost, Yahoo, TechCrunch, In The Know, Engadget and RYOT Studios.
Offerings will encompass shoppable articles and videos, and a dedicated Yahoo Shopping hub will host all of the daily affiliate content and posts supporting the campaign. The team-up is the latest sign that retailers like Walmart are prioritizing e-commerce as part of an unusual holiday period affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Dive Insight:

The joint venture between Walmart and Verizon Media shares many qualities with last year's holiday campaign between the two companies, also titled "30 Days of Savings." However, shoppable content is receiving a bigger spotlight this season as more consumers are expected to conduct their gift buying online given safety concerns around the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to see spiking cases in the U.S.

Walmart has made e-commerce a central part of its growth strategy as sales on the channel boom, and earlier in the fall launched Walmart+, a membership service akin to Amazon Prime. Similarly, the retailer is in the midst of redesigning many of its stores to better accommodate safety-minded features like self-checkout, contactless payments and transactions conducted via the Walmart app.

Beyond creating a means for consumers to directly buy from Walmart, Verizon Media's initiative this year looks to provide educational content that can help people better navigate the health crisis. Yahoo Life, In The Know, HuffPost and RYOT Studios released a special tool kit that features 20 videos, custom articles and content centered on topics like recipes and hosting people. All of the editorial content will be aggregated on Yahoo Life, per the announcement.

Verizon Media noted that it also redesigned the Yahoo Mail app to highlight a new "Groceries by Walmart" feature and center on discounts, transactions and rewards that hone in on shoppers' buying habits amid the health crisis. The group's first-party research indicates that shoppers will be more careful with this year's holiday spending — another effect of the pandemic, which has delivered a massive hit to the economy.

Walmart and Verizon Media join other companies in experimenting with shoppable content, including Lego, Hasbro and Buzzfeed. In August, Buzzfeed teamed up with e-commerce services company Bonsai to create editorial-style content and a branded marketplace with tailored items. Earlier this month, Lego included shoppable elements in a holiday push that allowed consumers to purchase products shown in its ads. The toy marketer also created Spotify playlists inspired by interests, themes and hobbies depicted in its campaign.

Similarly, Verishop and Poshmark have each added shoppable offerings content features to their platforms. Meanwhile, Saks Fifth Avenue added shoppable editorial content to its site earlier this month, and HSN and QVC are now part of LG's Shop Time app that lets consumers buy goods directly from their LG TVs.