Photo: Getty Images/Rawpixel; Source: Angi
Walmart customers can add a handyman to their purchases
Walmart customers across the country will soon be able to add a handyman to their purchases when they buy products for 150 common household projects that require product assembly and installation, flooring, electrical work, painting, television mounting and more.
The retailer is teaming up with Angi (formerly known as Angie’s List) to provide customers with the help they may need to complete projects. Prices start at $49 for furniture assembly and $79 for mounting a television on a wall. The deal between the two companies will make Walmart, for a limited time, the exclusive retailer to offer these services using Angi’s roster of professionals.
Walmart customers who want Angi’s help can purchase the service inside Walmart’s stores and online via a dedicated Angi landing page. Angi will contact Walmart’s customers to set up service appointments and to make sure they are satisfied with the work done. Angi has a roster of more than 250,000 affiliated household project professionals across the country.
“Since the start of the pandemic, the home is in focus and people across the U.S. are doing more home improvement, maintenance and repair work and they are often turning to Walmart to find the tools and materials needed to start those projects,” said said Oisin Hanrahan, CEO, Angi, in a statement. “Things like sprucing up an entertaining space by installing a new smart TV, painting a nursery for a family addition, and transforming an outdoor space and adding a patio are now projects that Walmart customers can get done seamlessly with the help of an Angi pro as part of the Walmart shopping experience.”
The deal with Angi is not the first time that Walmart has solicited outside help for its customers’ projects. The retailer signed a 2018 deal with Handy to do the same types of projects. Walmart’s move at the time was seen as a means to compete with similar services offered by competitors, including Amazon.com, Best Buy and IKEA.
Handy, TechCrunch reports, was acquired by Angi shortly after it made the deal with Walmart. Mr. Hanrahan, who co-founded Handy, became CEO of Angi last year.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Will Walmart’s association with Angi make the retailer more competitive in key categories focused in and around its customers’ homes? What do you see as the upside/downside to the deal for Walmart?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Jennifer Bartashus
Senior Analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence
Liz Crawford
VP Planning, TPN Retail
Offering additional services makes good sense since not everyone is handy and will value the convenience of booking these services through Walmart. That said, Walmart is also risking their reputation on a third-party provider, and if they don’t do a good job it will reflect poorly on Walmart. The fact that Walmart tried something similar in 2018 suggests that there were issues in the past and I suspect that the learning from that attempt was factored into this latest iteration.
Offering assembly and installation services for laborious projects is a smart move by Walmart. Since many of its competitors already offer these service options, it is a catch-up play for Walmart. The upside is that customers that aren’t comfortable or don’t have time for assembly of products will now be more inclined to purchase these products from Walmart. As with any third-party service arrangements, it is more challenging for retailers to control the quality of service and it has the potential to impact their brand reputation.
The strategy of adding a service dimension to a product offering is a good way of “growing the pie,” and partnering with a service-focused organization like Angi can get the plan scaled quickly. Trying to build a comparable organization internally and organically could take a long time, even for a company as large and well-resourced as Walmart.
No surprise here. Angi acquired Handy (and its CEO, who is now CEO of Angi). Walmart has had the same services partnership with Handy since 2018. IKEA acquired TaskRabbit, so look for Walmart to acquire Angi, maybe? Anything to keep competing with Amazon and its version of services, Amazon Home Services.
This is, though, a great PR move by Walmart. They’ll grab headlines for a day or two without really doing anything different. They already have one of the quadrants covered in Kahn’s retail success matrix with “low cost” and now they are making sure the press — and their customers — know they’re trying to make the customer journey “frictionless.”
Walmart’s association with Angi can’t hurt, but it seems unlikely it will be a significant driver of sales of home improvement-related items. Many of Walmart’s customers are budget-conscious, which may make hiring professionals for assistance a stretch, unless there are special Walmart customer rates. Incorporating DIY tips/videos/courses might resonate more with Walmart’s core customer.
The biggest worry here is that customers are not happy with the work done and it damages the Walmart brand. While the work is done under the Angi brand, I am not sure customers will see it that way if they are not happy — if they buy it at Walmart it is from Walmart. This is outside Walmart’s control and the variability of workmanship across those many tradesmen will be huge.
Walmart’s partnership with Angi makes perfect sense. The service will not only build brand loyalty but it will build trust with customers, with Walmart as their retailer of choice for their home needs.
Walmart is meeting its customer where they want to be met. In their homes. With convenience. This is a great strategy for the brand and will set Walmart apart from Amazon, Target and DIY stores.
This collaboration has all kinds of benefits and speaks to the (largely untapped) value of retailers expanding beyond just products to offer adjacent services that add real value to the post-purchase experience. I have long believed that post-purchase experiences have meaningful potential to increase loyalty, and I will be watching this collaboration closely to see how it progresses.
Extending products to include a service element is brilliant. My late father used to often say, “Anyone can sell a product – that’s a commodity – but those who surround it with service or a program offering will remain relevant to consumers.” I think Walmart has become more relevant with this most recent alignment.
Yes, partnering with Angi strengthens Walmart’s competitive position as home goods boom.
It makes Walmart a convenient source of home products and services, boosting its power in this category. I wonder if we will eventually see a tie-in through a deeper collaboration between Walmart and Home Depot.
Potential risks include underperforming home improvement pros and long wait times for projects.
Walmart’s providing in-home services allows it to provide convenience to its customer base while also staying competitive. The association with Angi, which has a strong reputation, will broaden the reach for both companies. Customers that use Angi may never have considered shopping at Walmart but now they might. Walmart customers that may have gone elsewhere to purchase products that come with the installation may give Angi’s a try with its significantly broad reach. Handy had about 500,000 customers whereas Angi’s has over 5 million. The downside is, as with all partners, if the service fails to meet the customer expectations.
Finding a reliable handyman (especially during the COVID-19 era) has been a challenge, so I can see where this comes into play. However unless the vetting process is thorough, it is risky for Walmart to hand over a piece of their brand experience to other vendors — and the “in person” aspect of the experience is perhaps the most influential in the buying process.
The partnership with Angi doesn’t feel like a natural extension of a customer’s experience with Walmart. It feels like it’s just adding a middleman (aka Walmart) to the customer’s engagement with Angi. I don’t see this partnership increasing sales in the home categories for Walmart.
I strongly agree with Natalie. This partnership is somewhat risky for Walmart, for the reasons stated. Check out the online reviews of Angi (not of the craftsmen, but about Angi itself) and see the things that can (and have) gone wrong. Reviews I saw averaged in the range of 3.1 to 3.8 out of 5. Not damning, but not a ringing endorsement. I hope/expect that Walmart has put procedures/controls in place to protect itself.
As someone who just moved and had a lot of home purchases to build/install, I can say that this partnership is extremely valuable to customers. However there will always be the question as to whether shoppers could have found a cheaper way to get it done – have a friend/family member complete the task, find a competitive TaskRabbit, watch YouTube videos themselves, etc. Walmart will have to keep prices competitive with this service and will have to show consumers up front that that’s the case so they don’t have to do their own research to figure that out.
This is a win-win for the retailer and the consumer. If Walmart can create a curated assortment of free installation goods, this would not just differentiate them, but would take market share away from the home players. Think about a choice of ten ceiling lights that have installation included, or promotions on flat screen TVs that have wall mounting services included. Where would you make your purchase? They would need to be mindful of field training and branding.
I know Amazon tried to do “in home” delivery and it created issues with trust and consistency.
I applaud innovation. My guess is that they can add something around this to encourage Walmart+ membership as well.
While the idea is good, the actual impact is likely to be one of positive publicity rather than an increase in sales. Even Lowe’s and Home Depot offer services, but these are usually priced quite a bit higher (and take longer) than the professionals one can find in the community.
Once again, Walmart is working its way into the fabric of the everyday lives of their customers. No real downside I can see, other than to promote a service that might not prove to be popular. I’m sure there will be some experimentation (or there has already been some) to give some “proof of concept.”
Walmart’s collaboration with Angi will definitely be a success. Certain home and decor products require leveraging service components like installation to ensure a frictionless user experience. Moreover Millennials and Gen Z don’t like dealing with complex installation processes these days and are willing to pay more for those services. So by assisting customers with installations, Walmart will be able to give an edge to its product experience.
However one downside is that if the quality of service is compromised, Walmart may face problems. The Walmart+Angi collaboration will be a personal brand interaction. So customers will notice even nano-errors or small inconveniences which will thereby result in an instant negative impact on Walmart’s reputation. Walmart, therefore, would need to ensure a superior quality of service and assign critical tasks to only those with a high skill set.