Retail for the next generation: how Walmart wants to reach young people with gaming
June 20, 2025
Walmart is active on Roblox and even has its own online game, Walmart Unlimited, to capture the attention of new, young consumers. Online gaming is also retail experience, the retail giant reasons.
Gaming shopping
To reach the next generation of customers, Walmart is integrating online gaming into its strategy. At the Future Commerce Visions Summit in New York, Justin Breton, head of brand innovation at Walmart, discussed how the company wants to create interactive retail experiences beyond its four shop walls.
Breton emphasised that Walmart is looking beyond traditional sales channels. Earlier, Walmart already launched Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play on its gaming platform Roblox, among others, but in February Walmart introduced another new web-based game, Walmart Unlimited. The mini-game targets consumers aged 18 and above and lets users discover products that are also available in physical shops.
Adaptive retail
Walmart’s game approach is proving remarkably effective at capturing consumers’ attention – a real achievement in today’s ‘attention economy’ where everyone is fighting for consumers’ attention. Breton notes that players spend an average of 35 minutes at a time in the game, which is significantly longer than the average attention span on platforms such as TikTok.
Breton explains that the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality is therefore crucial to improve the customer experience. ‘Adaptive retail is a broader term that allows us to engage with consumers in a meaningful way, both online and offline,’ he adds.
