Walmart and Target Shift Growth Toward Advertising and Platform Businesses
The Motley Fool analyzes how retailers such as Walmart and Target are shifting growth drivers toward advertising, third-party marketplace commissions, and membership fees.
What are the key facts?
- 1August 25, 2026
- 2The Motley Fool
- 3Advertising, third-party businesses, and membership fees
What happened?
The Motley Fool published an article on August 25, 2026, analyzing changes in the growth models of U.S. retailers including Walmart and Target. The report states that traditional retailers are gradually expanding their revenue sources beyond in-store merchandise sales to include advertising services, third-party platform businesses, and membership fees.
The article notes that growth in advertising monetization, marketplace commissions, and membership-related revenue is becoming an important part of retailers' operating performance. The report views these businesses as part of a shift in the growth structure of traditional retailers and compares Walmart and Target's performance as their retail models evolve. The changes involve platform services, merchant businesses, and consumer membership systems.
What does this mean for cross-border sellers?
Platform advertising, third-party commissions, and membership systems are reshaping how retail platforms grow, making sellers' exposure costs and operating rules more dependent on platform monetization. A common mistake is to treat advertising as a simple traffic expense while overlooking product margins and conversion efficiency, allowing budgets to increase without improving profitability. Highest-priority action: calculate ad spend, conversions, and gross margin by product this week, and pause campaigns that cannot demonstrate incremental results.