fvdvdv

1. FORBES BUSINESS RETAIL
EDITORS' PICK
Why Amazon Should Worry
About Walmart’s Site
Redesign
George Anderson Contributor
RetailWire Contributor Group
Follow
Apr 13, 2023, 11:36am EDT
Jan 9, 2020 Mountain View / CA/ USA - People shopping at a Walmart store in south
San Francisco bay ... [+] GETTY
Walmart WMT -1.4% unveiled its redesigned website and app,
which immediately drew comparisons to Amazon AMZN +2% .com.
Tom Ward, chief e-commerce officer at Walmart U.S., wrote on a
company blog last week that the retailer has made “hundreds of
enhancements” over the past year to improve the shopping
experience for the chain’s customers.

2. Walmart’s new homepage features bigger photos, live video and a
“social-inspired scroll so customers can browse our selection just
as they’d scroll their favorite social media apps,” Ward wrote.
“These changes, in conjunction with the Walmart Creator
platform, will improve product discovery and take steps out of
the purchase process,” wrote Patricia Vekich Waldron, CEO of
Vision First, in an online discussion about the redesign last week
on RetailWire. “It will absolutely improve the experience for
existing core and casual customers, and potentially offer an
alternative to dissatisfied Amazon shoppers.”
Some of Ms. Waldron’s fellow members of the RetailWire
BrainTrust were likewise convinced that a solid redesign stands
to make Walmart more formidable in e-commerce against the
incumbent e-tail juggernaut in a number of different ways.
MORE FROM FORBES ADVISOR
Best Travel Insurance Companies
By Amy Danise Editor
Best Covid-19 Travel Insurance Plans
By Amy Danise Editor
“The new website and app will make consumers take the
Walmart Marketplace more seriously as an alternative to, or an
augmentation of, the Amazon Marketplace,” wrote David
Naumann, marketing strategy lead, retail, travel & distribution at
Verizon. “Walmart has aggressively added more sellers to its
marketplace and now with a better user experience, it is a strong
rival for Amazon.”
The newly redesigned website is intended to make it easier for
customers to find the products they need and want from Walmart
and its growing network of marketplace sellers. The redesign will

3. also benefit suppliers and third-party sellers with “new
opportunities to showcase more relevant products and better tell
their stories,” according to Ward.
A Fast Company article said that Walmart’s redesign comes when
some Amazon customers may feel disaffected by increases in
Prime subscription fees and grocery delivery charges. Walmart
also offers product search results that are not cluttered with a
long list of sponsored products at the top.
An article on The Verge also claims that Walmart has an
opportunity to grab disgruntled customers from Amazon.
Walmart.com’s new look, it asserts, offers shoppers more access
to products connected to the current season and upcoming
holidays or events. The report also highlights the site’s search
function, which “yields several rows of products matching your
search that you can scroll through horizontally.”
Walmart has been on a multi-year mission to improve its digital
operations and create seamless shopping experiences regardless
of the point of fulfillment. The chain offers customers the option
of express, next-day and two-day delivery as well as in-store and
curbside pickup.
By one BrainTrust member’s account, the digital revamp was
gaining traction even before the website and app redesigns.
“I downloaded the Walmart app about a year ago when I got
frustrated with an Amazon search,” wrote Jeff Sward, founding
partner at Merchandising Metrics. “I quickly found the product I
was looking for and it was delivered two days later. The ‘out for
delivery’ and ‘delivery completed’ emails were timely and
accurate. I have since been drawn into the Walmart universe to
buy groceries, tools, storage containers and even a work shirt for
chopping firewood. I used to visit Walmart as homework for my

4. retail research. I’m now a shopper and buyer and it’s a direct
result of a great website and app experience.”
Others on the BrainTrust, however, held that a redesign should
be seen as table stakes, no matter what Amazon is up to.
“More retailers are focusing on making digital experiences
discovery-oriented, versus simplistic and mission-driven,” wrote
Melissa Minkow, director of retail strategy at C&T. “I think this is
a great move for Walmart, but I don’t know that it would be the
variable that steals customers from Amazon.”
“The description of Walmart’s website efforts sounds like they are
moving in a direction the online customer responds to,” wrote
Professor Gene Detroyer. “I hope that is the objective. To suggest
that they are doing it to grab disaffected Prime members is
inaccurate. Hopefully all the decisions were made to design a
better website, as they should be doing regularly–with or without
Amazon’s competition.”
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.
George Anderson
George Anderson has over 20-years executive level experience in retail,
business-to-business and consumer marketing communications. Mr.
Anderson is... Read More
Follow
Editorial Standards Reprints & Permissions