Walmart Launches Program Allowing Customers To Test Products at Home

Attention Walmart shoppers — if you’re a member of the Walmart Customer Spark Community, you could find yourself testing out various products in the comfort of your own home for absolutely free. One caveat: you’ll be asked to supply honest feedback and thoughts to suppliers providing you with the goods.

Aimed at suppliers who belong to the Walmart Luminate program — as a Walmart Data Ventures report from group director of product management, Linda Lomelino, indicated — the company is launching In-Home User Tests (IHUT).

“This streamlined, end-to-end service embodies our customer-centric approach by enabling suppliers to test their products with verified Walmart customers through the Walmart Customer Spark Community. IHUT allows for an authentic experience where customers interact with products as they normally would from the comfort of their own homes,” Lomelino wrote.

“Not only does IHUT allow us to gain invaluable insights around pricing, efficacy, messaging, and more, but it also enables suppliers to test and innovate with speed based on their findings,” she added.

Luminate is slated to undergo a name change to Scintilla at some point in February, as Modern Retail noted.

Walmart’s Luminate Program Delivers Millions of Data Points

According to Lomelino, Walmart Data Ventures was able to deliver 3.4 million responses to client suppliers over the course of 2024. These responses are regarded quite highly by analytics and insights teams, as members of the the retailer’s Customer Spark Community are specifically invited to participate and are verified customers who submit to a double opt-in process.

“Other research companies may have to tap into their panels or other third-party panels, and so what makes our capability unique is obviously the scale of Walmart, but also the value of our community,” Lomelino told Modern Retail. “Because it’s an invitation-only community that leverages our customer database. We know who these customers are, and we can verify their transactional and behavioral data.”

Heavy hitters across several retail sectors seem to believe in the power of Luminate, including Kraft Heinz, Revlon, Kimberly-Clark, Bayer, and Mondelez International. One backer in particular was quoted by Lomelino when describing the wider launch of its IHUT program.

“The Walmart Luminate team provided us with a seamless research experience that provided invaluable insights,” Lauren Carruth, senior manager of shopper insights at Duracell, stated. “Through the In-Home User Test research we conducted, we were able to proactively identify the packaging attributes that would best resonate with those who matter most — the shopper.”