Walmart Overhauls Digital Storefront With Website and App Makeover
Walmart has revealed a new-look website and mobile app. The revamped homepage is designed to offer “more personalized and seamless interactions that make shopping how it should be: fast, easy, and fun,” the retail giant says.
“The closest store to our customers is the one in their pockets, and we’re giving that digital storefront a revamp,” said Tom Ward, Walmart’s chief e-commerce officer in a blog post Monday.
The “product-focused” design has drawn some comparisons to Amazon – one of Walmart’s biggest competitors in the digital commerce space. The newly-designed website features larger images and different product categories – including gifts, home decor, and “game day” picks – along with live video elements designed to mimic a social media scroll. Users can also search according to trending items.
The newly-designed website will also continue to offer the option to select Walmart’s full suite of delivery or pickup services – Express Delivery, Next Day Delivery, Two-Day Delivery, and curbside pickup.
Walmart has worked hard to level-up its digital commerce offerings in the years following the pandemic-era boom in online spending. In the second quarter of 2020, Walmart’s e-commerce sales grew 97% year-over–year. By comparison, Walmart's e-commerce sales grew just 17% year-over-year this last quarter.
However, in a recent earnings call, Walmart senior leadership expressed optimism about the future of online sales, while recognizing that the lines between sales channels had grown increasingly blurred over the last few years. “It’s becoming more difficult to measure the differences in e-commerce and stores because stores are acting as fulfillment centers at times," noted John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., in the call. “So there are a lot of blurred lines between all these channels. So having an offer that is great for consumers in terms of the behavior they're seeking, which is convenience, and not worrying about incremental delivery fees is working fantastically.”
For now, however, the elevation of its digital presence remains a key focus. Last year, Walmart expanded its Walmart+ membership to include a micro-rewards program built into the larger membership offering. Using the app, the Walmart+ membership gives users the option to save their digital rewards using the Walmart app’s wallet function or use funds for future purchases in stores and online.
