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Walmart Tests Grocery Receipt Comparison Tool

Written by Tom Ryan

Walmart is testing a program that invites consumers to send Walmart a photo of a grocery receipt from a Walmart competitor. Within a couple of days, Walmart responds with a calculation of how much the consumer would have saved at its stores.

The "Walmart Receipt Comparison Tool" quietly went live in mid-August in Albuquerque, Chicago and Atlanta. A website set up around the effort — seeforyourself.walmart.com/receiptcomparison — states that Walmart will "soon be expanding it to other parts of the U.S."

A video as well as marketing copy on the microsite explains the steps:

  • Snap a picture of a recent receipt from the grocery store you regularly shop;
  • Upload the image of the receipt to Walmart's microsite, along with an email address;
  • Walmart's "team of price checking wizards — figuratively speaking" will process the receipt and compare the prices versus the nearest Walmart supercenter;
  • A link to the results will be emailed to the shopper within 24 to 48 hours.

The video then encourages users to share the results with friends to encourage them to try the tool themselves. Links to Facebook, Twitter and e-mail are provided. The video ends, "So now with proof in hand, you can stop driving around and checking advertising in search of good deals and enjoy Walmart's low prices every day. Upload your receipt and try it today!"

The microsite states that the receipt must be less than 7 days old for an "accurate comparison." It only compares grocery, health and wellness, beauty and consumable items. Private label items and random weight items such as produce and meat are excluded. Receipts can only be compared currently from most major grocery stores, mass merchants and drug stores, although Walmart said it is expanding the list.

According to Supermarket News, Walmart is running ads in those three cities encouraging consumers to try the tool. Gift cards valued at $10 are being offered for the first 100 shoppers each day who submit receipts through Sept. 1. Each city also includes a local "Walmart Challenge" microsite with video testimonials from local shoppers touting Walmart's low prices.

An unidentified Walmart spokesperson told couponsinthenews.com that the receipt comparison tool is "very, very, very much a test" right now. She added that it represents an extension of the retailer's five-month-old print and TV campaign that in the same vein challenges shoppers to bring their receipts into Walmart's stores to see for themselves how much money they could have saved.

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