Walmart is a household name that made it big in the retail industry – an industry that grows fast and that is very competitive. Initially a brick-and-mortar store, Walmart had to adapt to new trends and embrace the innovative technologies available today and it did so successfully. Over the past few years, Walmart has taken notable steps towards growing its online presence and has become the second biggest eCommerce player in the United States, right after Amazon. From implementing omnichannel retailing to focusing on mobile commerce, the company utilised many effective strategies to boost its online ranking.
If you are curious to learn what made Walmart’s eCommerce growth strategy effective and how this business managed to grow over the past years, keep reading. Throughout this article, we will present some of Walmart’s most valuable tactics.
Walmart’s Ecommerce Strategy
Focusing on the needs of the customers
Focusing on the needs of the customers is something that all successful businesses do and Walmart makes no exception. An important part of Walmart’s eCommerce strategy is to ensure that its merchandise remains affordable and offer discounts and deals to its customers. Personalised offers are an effective tactic that Walmart uses to attract its customers and to compel them to return. The retailer managed to remain a good shopping place during periods of inflation by providing its customers with attractive prices, a wide range of products, and other types of benefits. Walmart’s online platform is user-friendly for both clients and sellers and it is extremely convenient. The platform aims to offer clients the lowest prices and to beat the competition.
Making important investments in eCommerce
Walmart invested a lot of resources in its eCommerce strategy and infrastructure in order to remain competitive against other successful industry players such as Amazon. In terms of infrastructure, Walmart invested in distribution facilities, warehouses, and delivery services. These smart investments helped Walmart become more efficient as it had streamlined logistics, lower turnaround times, and fast and affordable deliveries. By implementing innovative technologies, Walmart was able to scale its business and meet customer demand.
Implementing omnichannel commerce
Omnichannel retailing is something that all the important players of the eCommerce industry are doing nowadays. This is a critical feature that contributed to Walmart’s eCommerce success as it made things easier for the customers. Walmart’s eCommerce strategy consists of its ability to sync the online and offline experience. The company analyses customer behaviour both online and offline and trains its app to offer personalised recommendations that compel the customer to purchase more items. Walmart also offers different types of delivery and customers can opt to have the products delivered to their location or to pick them up from a Walmart store. This is a convenient feature that makes shopping easier, especially for a busy user.
Enhancing the digital experience
Walmart made constant efforts towards improving the customers’ digital experience on their online platform. The company invested consistently in its marketplace and used AI to make it easier for users to search for products and find what they need. Walmart’s implementation of generative artificial offers customers personalised product recommendations and it can help the company create tailored marketing campaigns.
Understanding customer behaviour and preferences allows Walmart to provide customized shopping experiences that boost engagement and user retention. For example, product descriptions were a key factor that enabled them to guide users to the correct product.
Investing in mobile commerce
Investing in mobile eCommerce is a very smart move considering the fact that almost everyone has a smartphone in their pocket. As smartphone adoption rates are continuously growing, any eCommerce company should focus on creating mobile-friendly platforms that allow customers to shop on their mobile devices. Walmart created user-friendly mobile apps that offer convenient features such as augmented reality product browsing, visual search that allows customers to search for items using images instead of text, and mobile checkout that makes purchasing items a fast and easy process.
Fun Fact: During peak holiday seasons, approximately 75% of Walmart’s digital sales were mobile transactions.
Acquiring Vizio
Walmart boosted its already strong advertising business through the acquisition of TV maker company Vizio. This smart investment will help Walmart in the long run in many different ways. For starters, the Vizio purchase provided Walmart with a database of registered users and it will facilitate in-store advertising through digital screens. Vizio sold Walmart a database of nearly 18 million active users and a huge volume of ad viewership information.
Learning from past mistakes
Although Walmart is a very successful company, it had its share of setbacks over the years. For instance, during the courts of its eCommerce evolution, Walmart’s acquisition of JetBlack was not as profitable as the company expected. Launched in 2018, JetBlack was a same-day delivery service that targeted urban markets. The venture looked very promising, but despite all the company’s estimates, Walmart experienced unsustainable operating costs and low subscription conversion rates. These setbacks forced Walmart to discontinue the project in 2021, but it included some of its features in its eCommerce platform. Although purchasing JetBlack was not a profitable choice, the venture had certain features that were extremely useful and that Walmart decided to keep.
Understanding what made the biggest names in the eCommerce industry succeed and their effective tactics can help us create successful businesses. By analyzing Walmart’s eCommerce strategy we can identify a series of good practices but also different setbacks that can arise. To achieve sustainable growth and to beat the competition, businesses should focus on customer experience, implementing new technologies, and embracing the ever-changing trends of the industry.