Walmart Privacy Policy

We Recently Updated Our Privacy Policy

Updates include:

• Clarifying our practices with regard to sharing information outside of Walmart
• Creating a dedicated page to describe state-specific privacy rights which is linked from this policy
• Publishing metrics related to the number of requests received from California consumers under the California Consumer Privacy Act

Walmart Privacy Policy Summary

At Walmart, our customers are number one - always. That's why everything we do is focused on providing excellent customer service and delivering low prices.

The information you share with Walmart allows us to provide the products and services you need and want while giving you the very best shopping experience. For example, when you shop on Walmart.com we use what we know about your shopping habits to let you easily reorder products and show you other products that may interest you.

Our founder Sam Walton reminded us that "a promise we make is a promise we keep," and it's our promise to customers that we respect the trust you place in us and the privacy of the information you share. Part of providing superior customer service includes making sure that we're building a relationship of trust with customers. Our way of doing that is to let you know in a clear, prominent, and easily accessible way how we collect, use, share, and above all protect your personal information. 

Our Policy outlines:

• How and why we collect your personal information;
• How your personal information is used and protected;
• When and with whom we share your personal information; and
• What choices you can make about how we collect, use, and share your personal information.

Walmart Privacy Policy Frequently Asked Questions >

What Does This Privacy Policy Include?

This Policy covers how and why we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information:

• Within our Walmart and Amigo retail stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, and
• On our websites and mobile services where this Policy is posted.

Personal information is information that identifies you or reasonably can be linked to information that identifies you. For example, when you place an item on layaway or place an order online, to fulfill your order we collect personal information, such as name, address, phone number, and credit or debit card information.

Some laws define “personal information” differently, and we use those definitions when they are applicable. Rest assured, though, that no matter where you live, we treat your personal information with respect, and we collect, use, and share it only as described in this Policy.

We have specific privacy notices that explain the information practices that apply to our specialized operations. See “What Are Your Privacy Protections for Specific Types of Personal Information?” section for more information.

What Privacy Protections Apply to Specific Types of Personal Information?

Our specific privacy notices for our specialized operations include:

• Our health services operations, such as Walmart Pharmacies, Vision Center, and Clinics, use patient health information as described in the health services Notice of Privacy Practices. Review the Notice of Privacy Practices for the information practices specific to patient health information.
• Walmart makes a variety of financial products and services available to you, either directly or in connection with business partners. A description of information practices specific to financial products and services is available here.
• Walmart maintains separate privacy policies applicable to its international operations.

What is Our Pledge of Accountability?

We require our associates, business partners, and service providers to manage your personal information properly.

We have designated a team of trained associates who are responsible for helping to ensure compliance with this Policy. We require all those who manage customers’ personal information to do so properly and in accordance with our policies.

What Type of Information Do We Collect and How Do We Collect It?

We collect information to deliver the products and services you request, to help improve your shopping experience, and to support our business functions. We collect information from you in a variety of ways when you interact with our stores, websites, and mobile services.

What Information Do We Collect?
We may collect the following categories of personal information. Not all categories may be collected about every individual:

• Personal identifiers, such as name and address
• Device and online identifiers and related information, such as telephone number and email address
• Internet, application, and network activity, such as cookie IDs and browser visits
• Government identifiers, such as national identification numbers and driver’s license numbers
• Demographic information, such as age and date of birth
• Financial information, such as credit and debit card numbers and claims information
• Health and health insurance information, such as prescription numbers and health insurance identification numbers
• Characteristics of protected classifications under state or federal law, such as gender and nationality
• Purchase history information, such as products you have bought, rented, and returned
• Biometric information, such as imagery of the iris, retina, and fingerprints
• Location information, such as geo-location information
• Audio, visual, and other sensory information, such as audio and video recordings
• Employment information, such as occupation, title, licenses and professional memberships
• Background and criminal information, such as background checks and criminal convictions
• Education information, such as degree and schooling information
• Individual preferences and characteristics, such as inferences related to shopping patterns and behaviors

How Do We Collect Information?
We collect information from you in a variety of ways. It may be:

• Provided directly by you or a member of your household
• Collected from a device associated with you or your household
• Collected through in-store technology
• Collected from another company within our family of companies
• Collected from an external third-party source

Information Provided Directly by You or a Member of Your Household
You actively share information with us in various ways in our stores and online. For example, you share information when you:

• Make an in-store or online purchase, or other transaction, with us;
• Create an account on one of our websites or mobile services;
• Use a gift registry or create a mobile shopping list;
• Participate in our programs, such as eReceipts;
• Conduct a transaction or request a service where we collect information (including when required by law, such as hunting and fishing licenses);
• Request customer service or contact us;
• Post a review or comment on one of our social media pages, or post a rating, review or other user-generated content on one of our websites or mobile services;
• Participate in a contest, sweepstake, promotion, or survey; or
• Use features of our websites and mobile services that may ask you to grant us access to the camera or microphone on your computer or mobile device (such as voice search or scanning bar codes).

When you engage in these activities, you may share different types of personal information with us, such as your name, email address, physical or postal address, phone number, date of birth, and payment information.

Information Collected From a Device Associated With You or Your Household
You also passively provide us information in other ways through technology. This information helps our websites and mobile services work correctly and supports customer marketing and analytics efforts – our work to understand our customers’ needs and provide information about our products and services that may be of interest to you. Here are some examples:

• Device Information: We collect technical information when you visit our websites or use our mobile applications or services. This may include information such as Internet Protocol (IP) address, the type of mobile device you use, your device operating system and browser type, a unique device identifier, the address of referring websites, the path you take through our websites, and other information about your session on our websites.
• Browsing Information: We use our own and third-party technologies such as cookies, web beacons, and mobile device identifiers to collect information about the use of our websites and mobile services. We use these tools to provide an integrated and more personalized shopping experience for you. For example: cookies allow us to provide you relevant information as you use or return to our sites; web beacons allow us to know if a certain page was visited, an email was opened, or if ad banners on our websites and other sites were effective. Under certain circumstances, we permit third parties to collect information on our websites for their own business purposes using cookies, web beacons, iframes and similar technologies.
• Precise Device Location Information: We may collect information about your location when your device is set to provide location information. For example, your device’s GPS signal allows us to show you the nearest Walmart stores. Other examples include allowing us to know when you are about to arrive to pick up your Online Grocery Pickup order after you check in. We may be able to recognize the location of a mobile device in stores where we provide customers free WiFi access or through the use of Bluetooth technology. Through mobile services, Bluetooth technology in our stores allows us to show you nearby products that may interest you, making it easier for you to locate products within and navigate through the store. See “What Are Your Choices?” below for more information.

Information We Collect Through In-Store Technology
We may collect your personal information from technology we use in our stores, such as our facility cameras. We operate cameras in store for security and operational purposes, for example, to help us improve the design of our stores to better serve our customers.

Information We Collect From Another Company Within Our Family of Companies
We may collect your personal information from another organization within our corporate family of companies, such as with Sam's Club and Moosejaw.com.

Information We Collect From External Third-Party Sources
We receive information about you from other sources to help us correct or supplement our records, improve the quality or personalization of our services, and prevent or detect fraud. We collect information from consumer reporting agencies in conjunction with products or services that involve financial risk to Walmart, such as transactions in which Walmart extends you financing. We also receive information, such as device information and browsing information, from third parties for marketing purposes, for example to provide you with personalized ads on Walmart and third-party websites and mobile services.

How Do We Use Your Personal Information?

We use your personal information to provide you products and services, such as to fulfill your requests for products or to help us personalize our services and marketing to you. We also use your personal information to support our business functions, such as fraud prevention, marketing, and legal functions.

Some examples include:

• To fulfill your order or requests for services and provide customer service
• To create and maintain your account
• To conduct auditing and monitoring of transactions and engagement
• To conduct marketing, personalization, and third-party advertising
• To protect the security and integrity of our websites, mobile services and our business, and help prevent fraud
• To update our operational and technical functionality
• To conduct business analysis, such as analytics, projections, identifying areas for operational improvement
• To conduct research and development
• To fulfill our legal function or obligations

To do the above, we combine information, collected online and offline, including information from third party sources. We also may transfer or share your personal information within our corporate family of companies, such as with Sam's Club or Moosejaw.com, for these purposes, as permitted by law.

Uses of personal information relevant to our specialized operations, such as our health services and financial services lines of business, are described in our notices for specific types of information.

How Do We Share Your Personal Information Outside of Walmart?

We are careful to share your personal information in ways that respect your privacy and only as described in this Policy. We view you as a valued customer, not a product, and we do not sell or rent your personal information to others for money. All of the categories of personal information that we collect have been shared with other companies, including those within our corporate family, for a business purpose. We may share your personal information in the following circumstances:

Other Businesses in our Corporate Family
We may share your personal information with other brands and businesses within the Walmart corporate family. When we do, the information will be used in ways that are consistent with this Policy.

Service Providers
We share personal information about you with service providers that help with our business activities, including shipping vendors, billing and refund vendors, payment card processors, marketing and advertising vendors, and companies that help us improve our products and services. We require our service providers to keep your personal information secure. We do not allow our service providers to use or share your personal information for any purpose other than providing services on our behalf. Your personal information may be stored and processed by our service providers in the United States or other locations where the service providers or Walmart maintain facilities.

Products and Services Offered by Other Businesses
We will sometimes enable other businesses to make their products or services available to our customers, such as through Walmart.com Marketplace retailers. You may purchase products or services from these other businesses at our stores or through our websites or mobile services. When you purchase these products or services, we identify the other business and share with this business personal information related to your purchase of their products and services. These other businesses may operate their business in the United States or in other countries.

Co-Branded Products and Services
We may share your personal information with companies that offer co-branded products or services, such as our co-branded Walmart credit card. In conjunction with the co-branding program, we may receive compensation from the co-branding activity. These companies are prohibited from using your personal information for purposes other than offering you, and administering your use of, these co-branded products and services.

Legal Requirements and Protection of Our Company and Others
We may share your personal information in other special circumstances, which include situations when sharing is required by law, or we believe sharing will help to protect the safety, property, or rights of Walmart, our customers, our associates, or other persons. Examples include:

• Protecting the health or safety of customers;
• Addressing crimes committed on Walmart property;
• Identifying and addressing fraud or financial risk;
• Providing personal information from cameras to law enforcement at their written request;
• Responding to a search warrant or other valid legal inquiry; and 
• Responding to an investigative body in the case of a breach of an agreement or violation of law.

Business Transfers
In the event that all or a part of our business is merged, sold or reorganized (including transfers made as a part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings), personal information about you could be shared with the successor business. We will use reasonable measures to help ensure that any successor treats your information in accordance with this Policy.

Pursuant to Our Specific Privacy Notices
We have specific privacy notices related to some of our specialized operations. We may disclose personal information for purposes identified in those notices, which arise in those specialized operational areas. These specific privacy notices describe additional or different information practices relevant to those operations. Our specific privacy notices can be found here. For example, as detailed in the Notice of Privacy Practices, our health services operations will disclose personal information to other health care providers for treatment purposes.

Deidentified & Aggregated Personal Information
Walmart continually strives to make customer shopping experiences more relevant and with less friction and may offer related services and insights to its suppliers and others. As a result, Walmart may share with others insights that combine information from many customers in ways that do not directly identify you. For example, Walmart may combine your shopping history with that of other customers to deliver generalized insights to Walmart’s suppliers. These insights do not identify individual customers. This information helps Walmart suppliers provide products and services relevant to Walmart customers. Walmart may receive payment for these insights.

To deliver information about products and services that may be of interest to you, we may share information with other companies, such as publishers, advertisers and measurement analytics providers. For example, we may share device-related data (such as device identifier, type of device, IP address, cookies and other information associated with your browsing and app usage) and individual preferences and characteristics (such as insights and inferences related to shopping patterns and behaviors). This information does not identify you directly, but is necessary to personalize the advertisements you receive. Walmart does not receive payment for this information.

We also allow companies that show advertisements on our webpages or our apps to collect information from your browsers or devices via the use of cookies or other technologies. Like many companies, we may allow cookie matching with select partners. However, these parties are not authorized to access information from Walmart cookies. For more information about your choices related to advertising activities see “What are Your Choices?”  

With Specific Notice or Your Consent 
In circumstances other than those described above, we will provide specific notice or ask for your affirmative consent, as required by law, before we share your personal information outside of our corporate family of companies, and we also will not sell or rent your personal information for money.

Categories of Personal Information We Disclose to Each Type of Third Party
We may share your personal information with certain categories of third parties, as described below.

What are Your Choices?

You have choices about the various ways we collect, use, and share your personal information.

• We may send you marketing communications. You can tell us your marketing preferences with Walmart by following the instructions on the Walmart Communication Preferences & Alerts page. Or you may contact the Privacy Office as described in the “Who Can I Contact at Walmart About the Privacy Policy” section below.
• We also personalize your experience on our sites and mobile services by showing you advertisements from Walmart or our advertising partners that are tailored to your interests. Learn more about interest-based advertising.

Some of our mobile services use your device’s location information. You can adjust the settings of your mobile device at any time to control whether your device communicates this location information. We may also offer additional controls on our use of your mobile location information.

We want to offer you choices about the different ways we collect, use, or share your personal information. These choices are described below.

Marketing Preferences
When we are sending marketing communications to you, we use the following standards:

• We use an opt-in standard for automated phone and text messages, and for sharing personal information with companies outside our corporate family of companies for their use in direct marketing of their products, such as sending you promotions for their products. Opt-in means we will only conduct the activity with your affirmative consent.
• We use an opt-out standard for email, app notifications, and postal mail. Opt-out means we may contact you, but will stop upon your request (as described below).

Additionally, these standards may not apply to Walmart-branded credit card offerings because these are provided through associated financial institutions. However, you can choose to stop receiving certain prescreened offers of credit that originate from participating nationwide credit reporting agencies, including our prescreened offers, by calling the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry organization at 1-888-567-8688 or by going to www.optoutprescreen.com.

If you contact us by email or mail, please be sure to include your full name, the types of communications you would like to receive or not receive, and your related contact information. For instance, if you would like to opt-out of mail, include your mailing address. Please allow sufficient time for your marketing preferences to be processed. It may take up to ten days to process your requests related to email and up to 30 days to process your requests related to telephone calls, text messages, app notification and sharing information with your consent. Please note that postal mailings are often prepared many weeks in advance, and you may continue to receive mail for six to ten weeks.

Since we do not accept opt-out requests from third parties (except as described in the “What are Your California Privacy Rights?” section), such as catalog opt-out services, please communicate your request directly to us through one of the mechanisms mentioned above.

Please know that, even if you opted out of receiving marketing communications from us, we may still contact you for transactional or informational purposes. Some examples are contacts for customer service, product information, service or reminder notices, or recalls. We may also need to contact you with questions or information regarding your order.

Interest-Based Advertising Preferences
We personalize your experience on our sites and mobile services by showing you advertisements that are tailored to your interests. For example, if you browse or shop for electronics with us or on other sites, we may show you ads for electronics as you continue to browse the Internet. For more information about browsing information see “Information We Receive from You.”

We show you advertisements related to Walmart or our advertising partners. We belong to ad networks that may use your browsing history across participating websites and mobile services to show you interest-based advertisements. You may also see ads for Walmart on participating websites and mobile services based on how you browse. Learn more about interest-based advertising.

Mobile Location Settings
Some of our mobile services use your device’s location information. You can adjust the location settings of your mobile device at any time to control whether your device communicates this information. You will also need to adjust your device’s Bluetooth settings to completely disable the collection of Bluetooth location-related data. See your device instructions to learn more about these settings. In addition, we may offer you controls on our use of your mobile location information. See “What Types of Information Do We Collect?” above for more information on the types of location information we collect.

Device Camera and Microphone
Some of the features on our websites and mobile services may require access to the camera or microphone of your computer or mobile device. You must give your permission before we access your device’s camera or microphone, and you can adjust the settings of your device at any time to control access to your camera or microphone. See “What Types of Information Do We Collect?” above for more information.

How Do You Access and Update Your Personal Information?

We provide you with various ways to access or update your personal information, including contact and account information. We also take reasonable steps to keep your personal information accurate and complete.

You can access or update your personal information, including contact or account information, in the following ways:

• If you have created an account on one of our websites or mobile services, log into your account. Once you do, you will be able to enter and update your own contact information and payment information, as well as contact information for recipients you have designated.
• Contact us through one of the ways listed in the “Who Can I Contact at Walmart About the Privacy Policy” section at the bottom of this Policy. Please include your current contact information, the information you are interested in accessing, and your requested changes. We will provide you the personal information requested if it is reasonably available, unless it infringes on the privacy of other individuals, and subject to reasonable limitations provided by law and internal procedures. Otherwise we will describe the types of information we typically collect. We will provide access and make the changes you request, or will provide an explanation of what actions we will be able to take with regard to the request.
• If you need to access your personal information related to a specified service provided to you by a Walmart service provider or business partner, we will refer you to the service provider or business partner. Please contact us via the “Who Can I Contact at Walmart About the Privacy Policy” section below.

Our specialized lines of business, such as health services and financial services, offer specific methods to exercise privacy rights. For example, our health services operations, such as Walmart Pharmacies, Vision Centers, and Clinics, provide opportunities to access or amend protected health information collected, created, or received by those operations (for example, information collected at a Walmart pharmacy to fill a prescription) as described by the Notice of Privacy Practices. If you need assistance accessing records related to your personal information collected, created, or received by our health services operations or financial services operations, please visit the “What Privacy Protections Apply to Specific Types of Personal Information?” section.

If you are a California resident, please refer to the “What Are Your California Privacy Rights?” section for additional information on your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act.

How Do We Secure Your Personal Information?

We recognize the importance of maintaining the security of our customers’ personal information. We have a team of associates who are responsible for helping to protect the security of your information. Whether you are shopping on our websites, through our mobile services, or in our stores, we use reasonable security measures, including physical, administrative, and technical safeguards. These measures may include physical and technical security access controls or other safeguards, information security technologies and policies, procedures to help ensure the appropriate disposal of information, and training programs.

To learn more about measures you can take to protect the security of your personal information, please click here.

How Does Walmart Protect the Privacy of Children Online?

Walmart’s general audience websites and mobile services are not directed to children under the age of 13 and do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. For those websites and mobile services that are directed to children under the age of 13, that website or mobile service will explicitly state that it collects information from children. The website will also have a separate privacy notice posted detailing the practices specific to those websites, all of which comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Please contact us if you have concerns regarding the potential collection of your child’s information.

Who Can I Contact at Walmart About the Privacy Policy?

Visit our Store & Corporate Feedback page and select “Company Feedback and Questions” from the menu to contact the Customer Service Team with questions about this Policy or write the Walmart Privacy Office with any questions or comments about this Policy or about how we handle your personal information.

The Privacy Office’s address is:
Walmart Corporate
Privacy Office, MS #0160
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716-0160

For store experience, marketing preferences, and general feedback/questions, visit Store and Corporate Feedback.

What Are Your California Privacy Rights?

To learn more about your California privacy rights, please click here.

How Will I Know if This Policy Changes?

Please check our Privacy Policy periodically for changes. We will provide additional notice of significant updates. We will post the date our Policy was last updated at the top of the Privacy Policy.

Please keep in mind that on November 28, 2017, we added terms to our Privacy Policy related to the sharing of information between Walmart and our co-branded partners. See “How Do We Share Your Personal Information Outside Walmart?”

• If you registered for your Walmart.com account or made a purchase from Walmart.com on or after 11pm PST November 28, 2017, upon registration or at the time of purchase, you agreed to this change in our Privacy Policy.
• If you have not registered for a Walmart.com account and only shop with us in store, this change in our Privacy Policy will apply to any transactions in store on or after 11pm PST November 28, 2017.
• If you registered for your Walmart.com account but have not made a purchase from Walmart.com since November 28, 2017, the changes related to sharing of information between Walmart and our co-branded partners will not apply to you.