In a new partnership with Walmart, Netflix has opened an online storefront where fans can buy show merchandise like a Karate Kid Cobra Kai headband or an Ada Twist Scientist plush doll.
U.S. consumers are – at best – moderately interested in buying show merch on Walmart.com. Only 14% shared an interest in shopping the hub. That number rises to 17% when asked about interest over the next two months (holiday shopping season) which indicates a likelihood to gift Netflix merch.
The Netflix Hub at Walmart was made for consumers 24 and under. Their likelihood to shop the hub before Christmas is 120% greater than the overall Gen Pop and 50% greater than the next largest grouping of interest (people between 25 and 34).
Counter to logical assumptions, power users of Netflix are significantly less likely to show an interest in buying merchandise through the new online storefront. Casual users, those who watch Netflix on a monthly or yearly basis, are the most likely. Perhaps these users are most interested in the merchandise because it’s from Netflix’s most popular shows. It’s possible they just tune in to binge major blockbusters like Squid Game and then take a break.
The team up of Netflix and Walmart certainly makes sense for at least one party. Walmart favorables are more interested in the merchandise hub than Netflix power users, but still not by too much. There is a significant bit of interest from consumers who say they don’t have a strong opinion about shopping at Walmart. Combined, that’s fairly promising for Walmart.
Going back to the holiday shopping theme, the debut of the Netflix-Walmart partnership was certainly planned as a pre-holiday sales boost: consumers who plan to spend more this holiday season than last over-index in likelihood to shop the hub.
All in all, it’s the holiday shoppers looking for gifts that are likely to check out Walmart.com/Netflix right now. The hub seems like a niche marketplace that has more long-term payouts than short-term. When a new binge-worthy show hits the streaming site, Netflix will have an easy place to put out related products and capitalize on watcher enthusiasm.
