Walmart Digital Initiatives, Yahoo! Shops, Online Grocery Price Improvements
By Cleveland Admin
Walmart has several digital initiatives in place including a push for a more positive Walmart+ experience score, improving pick-up and Walmart Connect capabilities, and growing delivery. Priorities for Walmart Connect include growing offerings, introducing in-store experiences and unifying paid search across OPD and core. Manufacturers have made changes in response to Walmart’s omni integration with some examples including adding additional resources, aligning job titles/responsibilities, creating an omnichannel team, and relocating resources to Bentonville to accomplish these digital initiatives.
Source: Walmart Corporate
Yahoo!, the Latest Online Marketplace Entrant:
Yahoo! will soon launch a marketplace that doubles as a commerce marketing platform in a move not uncommon for retailers and web platforms alike. Yahoo Shops is under the umbrella of Verizon Digital Media and has secured a number of brands to participate. While the offering is not yet live, users can now register in advance. The platform will have a degree of personalization as it will cater to individual users’ interests.
Source: Yahoo!
Price Perception Improvements in Online Grocery:
When looking at our recent survey results vs. our previous study in August 2020, every platform except for Shipt appears to have improved its price perception with consumers. This suggests Walmart has done a good job maintaining its reputation as a price-competitive retailer and delivering on digital initiatives. On the other hand, consumers believe Instacart and Shipt are more expensive than shopping in-store. This high-price perception with Instacart and Shipt may hurt both platforms post-pandemic as consumers cited high prices as the top reason for not using these platforms. Instacart and Shipt will likely have to become more promotional either with pricing or introducing something like free delivery.
