Author: Salie Briones
The human race is now living in a world and an age where technological advancements are at their peak. Their use has been proven time and time again, more so when the pandemic hit. We have moved from going to physical stores to shopping online for our necessities. Just take supermarket apps as an example. To be more specific, Walmart’s retail app. This tool allows grocery shoppers to access millions of items, coupons, delivery, and payment options. And just last year, the retail giant announced that a big change is coming for its valued customers.
What’s New on the Walmart App?
Even though the previous summer was filled with rollbacks and several price cuts in stores, Walmart aims to maintain how its digital sales are currently going. Thus, enter the new version of its app. According to John Furner, the president and CEO of Walmart U.S, the update will include a universal search and checkout.
Inclusive of this change is the ability of users to make all in one transactions for their items that get fulfilled from different locations. Walmart’s supply chain team will then optimize the order fulfillment process.
Not One, But Two Updates
In addition to the change mentioned above, Walmart also announced its cross-platform partnership with Meredith Corporation. In contrast to Walmart’s customer base, shopping options, and product assortment, Meredith is a company known for its proprietary technology platform, food content expertise, and hyper-local consumer insights.
With these two working together, customers will soon experience features such as:
- Meal Planning
- Visual Searching
- Shoppable Recipes
- Chatbots
Too, Walmart shoppers will no longer be limited to shopping at Walmart. They would also be able to access Walmart products within Meredith’s brands, including:
- EatingWell and Real Simple
- Allrecipes
- Better Homes & Gardens
- Parents
The partnership also gave way to a shoppable “bookazine” that includes 30-minute meal ideas from Meredith’s Allrecipes brand that are exclusively sold at Walmart’s stores. These videos are now available at Walmart and have ads on TikTok in the ‘Shop Now’ button.
How Is It Different?
Previously, users had two color-coded apps on their phones. Orange is for grocery shopping and blue for other kinds of merchandise. Along with these two apps is the decision for customers to choose between delivery or shipping and store pickup. Unfortunately, this process reveals Walmart’s internal organization, which is something that the company does not want. And so, the new version came to be.
Checking Out
Evidently, purchasing groceries and other Walmart products in one transaction is an efficient update. After all, shoppers are more inclined to use apps that offer convenience, simplicity, and ease of navigation.
On a similar note, Walmart’s partnership with Meredith only makes shopping through their app more user-friendly. And with the e-commerce growth that the pandemic brought with it, it is only ideal and wise for companies such as Walmart to invest more in their online shopping services. In fact, to further emphasize this, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon stated that ‘grocery is a key area’ for their company’s future.
