Summit Keynote: Walmart Focuses on Digital Innovation

Schaumburg, Ill.— Walmart has turned the innovative mindset that made it a pioneer in supply chain optimization to the demand side of retail, leveraging new technologies to address shifting consumption habits in a way that keeps the store relevant to the consumer. Andy Murray, senior vice president of creative, discussed how the retailer is using digital tools to provide new customer solutions in his keynote address at the Shopper Marketing Summit in March.“Great shopper marketing is part digital, part optimization and also part human truth – deep insights into the human condition – and how to craft stories that relate,” Murray said. “We need to put as much attention on craft and creating stories as we are [putting] on the digital side if we’re going to have an abundance of real meaning.”To that end, the retailer is leveraging online commerce to offer customers easy access to a growing list of more than 4,000 American-made products. Paired with an advertising campaign that crafts a story about the dignity work can offer and touts the retailer’s pledge to create jobs by spending $250 billion dollars on U.S.-manufactured products, the effort addresses an issue consumers feel deeply about while combating purchase barriers that include not being able to tell if something is American-made and not being sure their purchase really makes a difference. Traffic to a dedicated e-commerce microsite within Walmart.com surged to more than 70,000 visits per day when the campaign launched, Murray said. “Despite a fairly limited assortment by e-commerce standards and not being tied to a natural shopper occasion, we saw conversion rates on par with a seasonal campaign.”The retailer also is giving customers more multichannel choices through services such as “Site to Store” delivery, self-service pickup, “Pay with Cash,” and a “Walmart To Go” grocery home delivery pilot. “From a shopper marketing perspective, our efforts surrounding the intersection of physical and digital will only open up more opportunities to win a broader range of trip types,” Murray said.Meanwhile, in seven U.S. cities Walmart is testing a “Savings Catcher” program to save customers time in addition to money. Customers submit their Walmart receipts online or via mobile, and they automatically receive the difference as a Walmart e-gift card if there are lower advertised prices in local competitors’ ads. Murray indicated initial results show improved loyalty, an increase in share of wallet and improved speed at checkout.For Black Friday, Walmart deployed a “One-Hour In-Stock Guarantee” for 21 items, guaranteeing delivery before Christmas to shoppers who were unable to get an item in-store. The program removed shopper fears around wasting their time waiting in line for an item that will be sold out; 5 million took advantage of the program, leading to the largest Black Friday sales ever for the retailer.Murray also discussed how Walmart is changing the way the retailer works with its suppliers and partners by aligning traditional and digital channels to offer more of a multichannel approach; hyper-local relevance, measurement and reporting; as well as increased transparency in terms of data and shopper marketing excellence. “This year we’re going to be bringing new upgrades to the [Smart] Network that will allow it to be used to serve highly relevant content customized to local stores, where needed, when needed,” Murray said, including the ability to connect and share content based on geography and demographics or serve content based on triggers such as weather, the local pollen count, cold and flu outbreaks or even store-level inventory.“I’ve covered a lot of the media opportunities, but at the core of what we’re doing, we’ll still be about the calendar and about ideas,” Murray said, inviting vendors to create more fun and presence into the in-store environment through “retailtainment,” better demos, and meaningful displays and signage. “If you’re a supplier or an agency supporting a supplier, now is a great time to be looking at how to make your brands, your displays, your shopper marketing really relevant to what the customer wants.”

Summit Keynote: Walmart Focuses on Digital Innovation

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