Photo: Walmart
Walmart earlier this week unveiled its redesigned website and app, which immediately drew comparisons to Amazon.com.
Tom Ward, chief e-commerce officer at Walmart U.S., writes on a company blog that the retailer has made “hundreds of enhancements” over the past year to improve the shopping experience for the chain’s customers.
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,” writes Mr. Ward.
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 also benefit suppliers and third-party sellers with “new opportunities to showcase more relevant products and better tell their stories,” according to Mr. Ward.
A Fast Company article says 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.
The retailer is expected to lay out its strategic vision today at its 2023 Investment Community Meeting. Walmart previously forecast sales growth of two to 2.5 percent this year, excluding fuel, with the expectation that sales will slow in the second half as consumers limit discretionary purchases in the face of inflation and economic uncertainty.
The company, according to reports, has laid off over 2,000 warehouse employees at online fulfillment centers in California, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas. Walmart has been automating fulfillment to improve performance and reduce costs.
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Walmart Turns Up the Excitement and Discovery With Brand-New Walmart.com Experience — Walmart
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Walmart seems to be gunning for disenchanted Amazon shoppers with its new website redesign - Fast Company
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Walmart’s redesigned website looks better than Amazon — The Verge
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2023 Investment Community Meeting — Walmart
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Walmart lays off 2,000 warehouse workers — CNN
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Walmart Lays Off Fulfillment Center Workers as Sales Slow and Robots Go to Work — RetailWire