Walmart Rolls out New Discovery-Based Online Experience
Walmart has revamped its digital storefront to give customers “a sleek new look and experience that offers a more engaging way to browse and discover our incredible assortment,” said Tom Ward, EVP and Chief Ecommerce Officer of Walmart U.S. in a blog post outlining the updates.
The key change to the Walmart.com experience is a completely redesigned homepage both online and in the Walmart app. The new homepage features a more product-focused experience, full of imagery and live video and optimized to better bring Walmart’s assortment to life for customers. A new “social-inspired scroll” will allow customers to browse Walmart’s digital shelves just like they browse content on social media.
And this new experience won’t just benefit Walmart shoppers, promised Ward: “It also provides our suppliers and marketplace sellers new opportunities to showcase more relevant products and better tell their stories, within moments that are top of mind for our customers, as they grow their businesses on Walmart.com.”
Ward also pointed to the ongoing work that Walmart has been doing with creators and influencers, saying that the new digital experience will better help creators “develop their community and inspire customers as they shop online.” In October 2022, Walmart launched a platform to bring in creators and help them monetize shoppable social content featuring its products.
Over the past year Walmart has focused on updating and enhancing its ecommerce experience and the effort appears to be paying off, with the retailer achieving 11.98% year-over-year ecommerce sales growth in the U.S. in 2022 — a period when Amazon saw a 4.61% decline.
Among the digital enhancements Walmart has made in the last year are:
- New styling features;
- An updated registry platform;
- Expanded Spanish-language search capabilities;
- New inclusive functions for shoppers using SNAP and EBT;
- The debut of image-based search;
- The ability to shop via text message;
- Content and media partnerships with TikTok, Snap, Roku and the livestreaming platforms Firework and TalkShopLive; and
- A new ecommerce site designed specifically for small-and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and nonprofits.
