Walmart’s digital storefront has undergone a revamp, according to a recent post by the company’s executive vice president and chief e-commerce officer Tom Ward, which detailed hundreds of enhancements that had been made over the past year.

These include refreshed holiday wish lists, a registry suite, auto care scheduling, virtual try-on, augmented reality, and virtual queuing.

The homepage of the Walmart app has also been completely redesigned to have customer-centricity at its core. The product-focused experience uses imagery and live video to bring an array of products to life, and the new-social inspired scroll is designed for customers to browse as they do on TikTok or Instagram.

The redesign is also focused on providing the company’s suppliers and marketplace sellers with new opportunities to showcase more relevant products. Walmart is providing its creators with the resources, tools and products to develop their own communities too.

With a full suite of pickup and delivery options, including express delivery, next-day delivery, two-day delivery and curbside pickup, customers also have a broad range of options for ordering online.

Battling Amazon

According to Mal Chia, director at Australian digital consultancy Ecom Nation, Walmart is locked in a battle with Amazon for supremacy in the  big box online retailer space in the US. He noted that this is a  niche with low customer loyalty, since products can easily be purchased from a competitor.

“[Walmart] would undoubtedly have seen Amazon’s massive growth over the past few years take a big chunk out of their market share, necessitating a need to win back their customers’ attention with a reinvigorated, integrated omni-channel shopping experience,” he told Inside Retail.

According to Chia, omnichannel retail is a big opportunity and point of difference for Walmart, so it will be looking to  leverage its biggest asset which is its physical stores across the US. He noted that Amazon sets the bar for online shopping because the experience is so seamless. 

“From browsing to checkout and fulfilment, this new shopping experience arguably puts their online shopping experience on par with Amazon where they can leverage their huge brand equity and presence,” she added, emphasising that Walmart is the biggest retailer in the world – almost twice the size of Amazon.

“Layering this on top of their current business and tying it all into a seamless omnichannel experience could really give Amazon a run for their money where customers would normally default to Amazon, now they have a choice.”.

Chia pointed out that Walmart only accounts for 6.3 per cent of US online retail sales, compared to  Amazon, which accounts for 37.8 per cent, so “this is all an upside for them”.

Challenges abound

The biggest challenge the retail giant may face is giving online shoppers a compelling reason to go Walmart instead of Amazon. 

“The thing about general retail is that you either need to be the cheapest or the biggest. Amazon commands so much attention online because you know what you’re going to get. They’ve become a shortcut now for shoppers looking to buy practically anything,” Chia said.

The question, in his opinion, is whether Walmart can effectively position its new shopping experience so that it disrupts the pattern of shoppers going to Amazon. Only time will tell.

“For most DTC brands this won’t really mean anything, but generalist retailers better be paying attention. In Australia, Woolworths and Coles are already well on this journey but you can see retailers like JB Hi-Fi start to invest more in this area and align their online and offline presence,” he noted. 

Being prudent

Walmart has been constantly innovating and over the last few years, it has become very aggressive with innovation and investing in disruptive technologies.

“They haven’t splashed cash on speculative technologies – they have been very considerate, first with investing heavily into their core physical stores and then augmenting it with online,” Chia said.

And with over 10,000 gigantic physical stores in 20 countries around the world, one wouldn’t want to bet against Walmart. 

“They are one of the most recognisable retailers in the world and that really gives them a tonne of leverage they can lean on,” Chia concluded.