Walmart expands social e-commerce territory! Launches live shopping activities on Facebook

Walmart announced this week that it will partner with TV personality Rachael Ray to launch a live shopping event on Facebook to promote the celebrity chef and author's dog food line and other products.

The Facebook Live event, which will also be broadcast on Walmart.com, follows a series of live shopping events Walmart has held on TikTok since late 2020 and continued into the spring, in which major TikTok creators showcased different Walmart products.

Walmart said its first TikTok live shopping event attracted 7,000 more viewers than the retailer expected, and its followers on the social media platform grew 25%. Walmart sees social commerce as "shortening the distance from inspiration to purchase."

According to eMarketer, social e-commerce sales in the United States reached nearly $27 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 39%. Sales are expected to exceed $36 billion this year and reach $79 billion by 2025. In 2021, social e-commerce is expected to account for 4% of US e-commerce sales.

Walmart has been at the forefront of contextual shopping, or integrating the shopping experience into everyday activities and natural environments, making its social commerce initiatives a natural extension of its other initiatives. Earlier this month, Walmart used artificial intelligence (AI) to create shoppable ads and recommendations for consumers.

According to research, not just big brands, small businesses are also turning to social media to expand their audience.

For Walmart, emphasizing social commerce and contextual shopping is a way to maintain its title as the largest retailer in the United States for as long as possible in the future. It is currently competing with Amazon for this crown.

Most critically, Walmart is working to maintain its edge in grocery, which drives 56% of the company’s overall retail sales and is the last category where Walmart leads over Amazon. In the second quarter, Walmart’s share of all food and beverage sales was nearly 19%, while Amazon had just 2%.

Editor ✎ Xiao Zhu/

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