Walmart Connect has helped the company maintain margins, helping offset the cost of keeping prices low and delivery speeds high as shoppers strained by bigger gasoline bills seek cheaper groceries and essentials, prompting Walmart to lower prices on some 7,000 items. Walmart Connect, though, surged 44% in the quarter, its quickest pace since the company started reporting the figure in the first quarter of 2023. The business has benefited from growth in Walmart’s membership program, which provides the customer data that powers its advertising platform. Launched in 2019 and rebranded as Walmart Connect in 2021, Walmart’s retail media business uses its shopper data to help brands target consumers across the company’s website, app and stores, while showing whether ads translate into purchases. Analysts expect Walmart to post a similar rate of growth for Connect when it reports earnings on Thursday for the quarter ended July 31, even as same-store sales growth is projected to slip below 4% for the first time since early 2024, according to LSEG data.