Walmart Launches New Roblox Experience

Walmart said it’s launching a new experience on Roblox: Walmart Discovered.

Walmart Discovered will spotlight 300-plus community creators through a nomination system – from digital fashion designers to experience developers – over the next four months.

“As we began to craft this experience, we listened to our growing community on the platform and found that they were seeking easier ways to discover experiences and virtual items,” William White, CMO, Walmart U.S., said in a statement. The activation creates a new way for users (13 and older) to “find their thing” by discovering games, indie experiences, and virtual items as voted on by the community.

In the immersive destination, users can discover trending virtual items and creators of all sizes – from micro to macro – and those developers can monetize through sales of their virtual items via Robux, Roblox’s native currency.

In the world of Walmart Discovered, users can explore departments like:

• Sports: top games and sports-inspired accessories for your avatar.
• Pets: pet-themed experiences and virtual items.
• Racing: a gamified destination inspired by popular racing experiences on the platform.
• Beauty: trending virtual fashion and beauty items from community designers.

Additional departments include Trending, Town & City, and Entertainment with new departments and events to be released later this year. With the My Department feature, users can save virtual items or new experiences they’ve discovered to revisit or purchase later.

Users will also be able to decorate and customize “their” department, including a selfie corner that allows them to create social-first content to showcase their avatar’s latest virtual fashion. As users nominate and discover more, they’ll level up within the experience and unlock the ability to upgrade their My Cart feature. This feature allows users to “express themselves and navigate the experience in a way that’s entirely their own.”

Over the next year, Walmart will be testing various virtual world experiences, it said recently. Up next is adding purchasing capabilities to House Flip, a mobile game available on iOS or Android that Walmart, that allows players to renovate and sell virtual homes. 

“We initially started with the ability for players to virtually test certain Glidden paint colors sold at Walmart, generating more than 12 million impressions for the Glidden brand over the first six months,” said Thomas Kang, VP & general manager, Metaverse Commerce, Store No. 8, in a statement.

This month, Walmart plans to introduce the ability to purchase physical items contextually and natively in the game, using a Walmart account without leaving the virtual world. 

[Learn more: Walmart and Amazon Investing in Virtual Brand Experiences]