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Walmart Plans to Radically Change the Way You Grocery Shop
Thursday, October 6, 2016 09:02 AM
By: Clyde Hughes
Walmart plans to radically change the way its customers grocery shop as the big-box giant aggressively expands its online pickup services around the country.
While tech and e-commerce companies like Google and Amazon are considering grocery-delivery models, Walmart's advantage is having a network of 4,600 stores as a starting point, according to The Washington Post.
In the last year, Walmart has grown its online grocery pickup program from five markets to more than 80 around the nation, the newspaper noted.
"We see a huge opportunity through pickup, particularly in grocery," Doug McMillon, Walmart's chief executive, told investors last year. "The combination of digital relationship and stores is a winner."
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Walmart is set to reinvest in its online grocery business after seeing its overall sales weaken and experiencing a revenue drop in fiscal year 2016.
The retail giant gets more than half of it revenue in the United States from food and grocery sales, according to WSJ, the same area that appears to be the slowest to shift to online shopping, stated the publication.
"The expectations for the (online) customer are different than for somebody parking their car and walking in and browsing," Karenann Terrell, Walmart's chief information officer, told The Journal last month. "Making the online-to-store experience easy and seamless when they come to the store, sign in through the kiosk and pick up is critical"
"We also have a model for what kind of replenishment settings for fresh fruit and vegetables would be necessary in the first week of online shopping, and then the fifth week, the 10th week and so on. That is gold in order for us to continue to run smooth operations in the store as we add in grocery home shopping," Terrell added.
The Hamilton Journal-News reported Wednesday that Walmart has opened up online grocery pickup at 12 stores in Ohio, were shoppers can pick through more than 30,000 items, including fresh meat, diary, and produce. Walmart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield told the newspaper that, while the service is free, there is a $30 minimum purchase.
"We've expanded which stores are carrying it throughout the summer and that will continue throughout the year," Hatfield said, according to the Journal-News.
Walmart also sought to bolster its online presence in August when it signed a $3.3 billion deal to purchase young online retailer Jet.com Inc., according to The Wall Street Journal.
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