Walmart’s online store has a brand new look. Beginning this week, all customers who browse the company’s website and app will see large and vivid photos, videos, and social media-inspired content that Walmart hopes will aid in incentivising consumers toward more purchases.
Walmart’s chief e-commerce officer, Tom Ward, said the goal is to make shopping online easier and more engaging.
“When you walk into a store, you get inspired and excited by what you see,” he stated. “And so we thought, ‘How do you drive that same inspiration and excitement in our closest store – in our app?’”
With this change, Walmart has made hundreds of enhancements to help it better compete with Amazon and other online retailers by creating more personalized interactions. Walmart hopes this new and improved website will help it stand out and make you buy at Walmart over other sites.
This retail giant’s makeover comes as consumers become more reluctant to buy discretionary merchandise, such as clothing and consumer electronics, while still having to pay high prices for necessary items like food and housing.
Walmart has felt that drop, too. The American corporations’ sales have come increasingly from groceries, rather than general merchandise. Walmart CFO John David Rainey told CNBC in February that consumers’ more budget-conscious mentality factored into the company’s outlook for this year.
E-commerce has become a very significant part of Walmart’s business, especially after the mass-hiring event that took place across the country during the quarantine-era. Online sales accounted for about 13%, $53.4 billion, of Walmart’s total net sales in the United States this past fiscal year. That’s a huge jump from the $15.7 billion, or 5%, of Walmart’s total net sales back in 2019.