A Walmart Marketplace Shift to Self-Service Sponsored Listings Boosting Ad Revenue to 0.5% of GMV in Just 6 Months

Before Topsort: Ad Hoc with Manual Efforts that Won’t Scale

When Babytuto partnered with Topsort, they had ambitious goals in mind. They wanted to discover new ways to generate revenue while ensuring their ads remained relevant and user-friendly. Most importantly, they aimed for ads that translated into actual sales.Team would sell occasional promotional banners that are one off based on ad hoc pricing negotiations. The revenue stream was not consistent and hard to grow.

Just weeks before Cyber Monday in Chile, Babytuto implemented Topsort’s ready-to-use Sponsored Products solution. This allowed Chilean e-commerce to quickly adopt the Self-Service feature for Campaigns, enabling brands to promote their products during this crucial period.

Babytuto could effortlessly track performance and maintain control, while vendors were delighted with the user-friendly dashboard for managing their listings. The self-service feature became an instant hit among vendors, thanks to its intuitive interface and easy campaign setup.

Babytuto and their advertisers were ready to shine on Cyber Monday with Topsort's Auction-Based Sponsored Listings!

With Topsort: A Successful Cyber Monday and Happy Vendors

During Cyber Monday, Topsort's special vendor onboarding program saw remarkable success, achieving an impressive 40% adoption rate among invited vendors.

For a baby E-Commerce, brand loyalty could sometimes be high and Topsort’s unique model of Machine Learning powered clustering algorithm and auto bidding campaigns made all the vendors that participated see results that were worth engaging over. Quickly the conversion rates of vendors invited showed the overwhelming popularity of Topsort’s retail media platform’s success!

Ease of Use

“Not all of our vendors know about advertising..” This was an initial concern of CEO Dani, quickly this was debunked! Not only were the self-service vendors able to quickly learn the workflow of Topsort’s self-service retail media platform. The marketing team at Babytuto was able to use the Topsort’s admin retail media platform to monitor results - 4 webinars after, happy brands onboard!

Transitioning from Fixed to Auctions

Getting an initial fixed priced banner offering to transition to an auction-based system was initially scary - yet Topsort’s Bidless algorithm made it easier for the vendors onboarded to learn, as all they needed to decide was the budget and the top priorities of ad campaigns - the rest was left for Topsort’s auction engine to decide.. In real-time! (Actually… under 5ms) 

Keeping the Relevance 

“Our search is highly relevant with location data of warehouses built in and personalization as well - will ads make the user experience poorer?” Engineering team at Babytuto brought up this concern at the very beginning of this conversation. The answer? Quite the opposite! Topsort was able to outperform the organic relevance 

The vendors who joined experienced outstanding outcomes, with an average return on ad spend (ROAS) reaching a remarkable 30 times their investment. Their satisfaction was evident as they eagerly requested more ad credits and witnessed a staggering 7.5% increase in sales. Babytuto's vendors were thrilled with these exceptional results.

‍After Cyber - Hitting 0.5% of GMV in 6 Months

Following the successful launch of Sponsored Products on Babytuto, the momentum of retail media at Walmart eCommerce began to build. The news spread quickly within this niche and loyal e-commerce community. In just six months, Topsort-powered self-service sponsored listings accounted for 0.5% of Babytuto's GMV, capturing Walmart's attention. Sponsored products now feature across most of Babytuto’s categories, from strollers and toys to clothing and baby monitors.

The next Cyber sale in early October 2022 exceeded expectations. The average return on ad spend (ROAS) for participating vendors soared to 9x, with the most active advertisers increasing sales by 15-20% thanks to sponsored listings. Vendors were thrilled, and Babytuto enjoyed a significant revenue boost from these promotions, making up a substantial fraction of their GMV for that period.Soon after, the big news arrived—Babytuto was being acquired by Walmart, one of the world's top retailers.

While Babytuto is no longer a Topsort client, their experience showcases how small businesses can leverage powerful retail media solutions to achieve remarkable growth. Babytuto's journey is a testament to the impact that innovative advertising technology can have, helping small enterprises scale and capture the attention of industry giants like Walmart.

Babytuto's CEO, Daniela Lorca, expressed gratitude for Topsort's contribution to their growth and success. They are excited to continue their journey under Walmart Chile, leveraging the lessons learned from their partnership with Topsort to bring Sponsored Products to new brands soon.

Feeling inspired? If you're ready to explore new revenue opportunities like Babytuto, it's time to act. Topsort is here to help you unlock your marketplace's full potential. Get in touch with sales today!