Walmart Scraper Guide: Price Tracking Code Samples

Walmart is a top target for price tracking and assortment monitoring, but its product pages are built with Next.js — which means the cleanest data source isn't the visible HTML, it's the __NEXT_DATA__ JSON blob the page ships with. Parsing that script tag gives you structured, reliable fields (name, price, availability) without brittle CSS selectors. The samples below fetch the page through the Bright Data Web Unlocker and read straight from __NEXT_DATA__.

Prerequisites

export PROXY_URL="http://brd-customer-<id>-zone-<unblocker_zone>:<password>@brd.superproxy.io:22225"

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Products are identified by their item ID from the URL: https://www.walmart.com/ip/<id>.

PHP

<?php
// Run: php walmart.php 5689919121
$proxy  = getenv('PROXY_URL');
$itemId = $argv[1] ?? '5689919121';

$ch = curl_init("https://www.walmart.com/ip/$itemId");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
    CURLOPT_PROXY          => $proxy,
    CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER => false,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT        => 60,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.9'],
]);
$html = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

// Walmart embeds all product data as JSON in a __NEXT_DATA__ script tag.
$doc = new DOMDocument();
@$doc->loadHTML($html);
$xp   = new DOMXPath($doc);
$json = $xp->query('//script[@id="__NEXT_DATA__"]')->item(0)?->textContent;

$data = json_decode($json ?? '{}', true);
$p    = $data['props']['pageProps']['initialData']['data']['product'] ?? [];

$product = [
    'id'           => $p['usItemId'] ?? $itemId,
    'name'         => $p['name'] ?? null,
    'price'        => $p['priceInfo']['currentPrice']['price'] ?? null,
    'priceString'  => $p['priceInfo']['currentPrice']['priceString'] ?? null,
    'availability' => $p['availabilityStatus'] ?? null,
];

echo json_encode($product, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES), PHP_EOL;

Node.js

// walmart.mjs — node walmart.mjs 5689919121
// Install: npm i axios https-proxy-agent cheerio
import axios from 'axios';
import { HttpsProxyAgent } from 'https-proxy-agent';
import * as cheerio from 'cheerio';

const agent  = new HttpsProxyAgent(process.env.PROXY_URL);
const itemId = process.argv[2] ?? '5689919121';

const { data: html } = await axios.get(`https://www.walmart.com/ip/${itemId}`, {
  httpsAgent: agent, proxy: false, timeout: 60_000,
  headers: { 'Accept-Language': 'en-US,en;q=0.9' },
});

const $ = cheerio.load(html);
const next = JSON.parse($('#__NEXT_DATA__').text() || '{}');
const p = next?.props?.pageProps?.initialData?.data?.product ?? {};

console.log(JSON.stringify({
  id: p.usItemId ?? itemId,
  name: p.name ?? null,
  price: p.priceInfo?.currentPrice?.price ?? null,
  priceString: p.priceInfo?.currentPrice?.priceString ?? null,
  availability: p.availabilityStatus ?? null,
}, null, 2));

Rust

// Cargo.toml:
//   reqwest = { version = "0.12", features = ["blocking"] }
//   scraper = "0.20"
//   serde_json = "1"
use scraper::{Html, Selector};
use serde_json::Value;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let item_id = std::env::args().nth(1).unwrap_or_else(|| "5689919121".into());

    let client = reqwest::blocking::Client::builder()
        .proxy(reqwest::Proxy::all(std::env::var("PROXY_URL")?)?)
        .danger_accept_invalid_certs(true)
        .build()?;

    let html = client
        .get(format!("https://www.walmart.com/ip/{item_id}"))
        .header("Accept-Language", "en-US,en;q=0.9")
        .send()?
        .text()?;

    let doc = Html::parse_document(&html);
    let sel = Selector::parse("script#__NEXT_DATA__").unwrap();
    let raw = doc
        .select(&sel)
        .next()
        .map(|e| e.text().collect::<String>())
        .unwrap_or_default();

    let data: Value = serde_json::from_str(&raw)?;
    let p = &data["props"]["pageProps"]["initialData"]["data"]["product"];

    let product = serde_json::json!({
        "id": p["usItemId"].as_str().unwrap_or(&item_id),
        "name": p["name"],
        "price": p["priceInfo"]["currentPrice"]["price"],
        "priceString": p["priceInfo"]["currentPrice"]["priceString"],
        "availability": p["availabilityStatus"],
    });

    println!("{}", serde_json::to_string_pretty(&product)?);
    Ok(())
}

What the samples return

When the fields come back empty

• A "Robot or human?" page. Walmart answers suspicious requests with a challenge page. When we opened a product page in a normal browser session in October 2026, it redirected to a URL under /blocked titled "Robot or human?", and that page has no __NEXT_DATA__. Check the final URL and page title before parsing, and route requests through the unblocker.
• A different path. Walmart changes its data layout from time to time. If initialData is missing, print the top-level keys of __NEXT_DATA__ and follow them to the product object.
• An item that's gone. Removed items redirect or return an error page. Store the final URL and status with each result so you can tell a missing product from a failed request.

We couldn't verify the current __NEXT_DATA__ paths ourselves, because our test request was challenged, so confirm them against a page you fetch through your unblocker before you rely on them.

Notes

• Parsing __NEXT_DATA__ is far more stable than scraping rendered HTML — the same blob also carries seller info, ratings, shipping, and variant data under product.
• If initialData is ever absent, Walmart occasionally hydrates from a __PRELOADED_STATE__ script instead; dump the JSON keys to confirm the current path.
• For a tracker, persist {id, price, timestamp} per run, schedule with cron, and alert on drops — see the Amazon tracker for the full pattern.

Staying within the rules

Collect public product data only, keep request rates modest, and read the site's terms before you build anything commercial on the data. Don't scrape account pages, buyer or seller personal details, or anything behind a login. Our how to avoid getting blocked guide covers polite crawling in more detail.

FAQ

Where do I find a Walmart item ID?

It's the number at the end of the product URL, after /ip/. Some URLs include a product-name slug before it, as in walmart.com/ip/<name>/<id>; the ID is the final number.

Why does my Walmart scraper get a "Robot or human?" page?

Walmart's bot detection flagged the request. Plain HTTP requests and fast request rates trigger it most. Send requests through an unblocker or residential proxies, keep the rate low, and check the page title before parsing.

Why read NEXT_DATA instead of the HTML?

The JSON blob holds the product's structured data in one place, so you don't depend on CSS classes that change with redesigns. The trade-off is that its paths can change too, so check them when results come back empty.

See our E-commerce Web Scraping Solutions overview, the Bright Data Web Unlocker review, and How to Avoid Getting Blocked.

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