In the world of omnichannel applied to the retail industry, Walmart is ahead. Since before the coronavirus arrived, the supermarket chain has been clear that the key is to diversify the points of contact, but that they all work in an integrated way to offer a better shopping experience.
For more than three years, the chain’s consumers have been able to make their supermarket through the website or its application and receive it at home or pick it up in the store with their car, in an area outside the physical point of sale, which was enabled for it.
In 2018, Walmart opened its first 100% omnichannel store, in Tlalnepantla, State of Mexico, which has a pick-up scheme – online purchase and in-store collection -, kiosks with extended product catalogs and self-scanning, that is, that the consumer can scan the products he wants, up to a maximum of ten, to obtain the purchase receipt, with which he later proceeds to make the payment in cash, with vouchers or a credit or debit card.
Following these innovations, the retailer began to remodel its stores in Mexico and Central America, to integrate e-commerce counters and other digital components, such as QR codes in brochures for online purchases or Cashi, a platform that allows you to pay from your cell phone. Walmart has also enabled WiFi in its physical stores to make the omnichannel experience more complete.
These efforts gave the retailer a break when the pandemic changed the rules of the game and, above all, allowed it to be several steps ahead of its competitors, who had to accelerate their digital transformation and taste the honeys of omnichannel of a much more adventurous way.
Walmart did not escape the challenges of last year, but neither did it stop betting on omnichannel to be closer to consumers and ensure that shopping carts did not get empty. During the year, the company invested 16,728 million pesos (mp): 43% of the total went to remodeling existing stores, 27% to opening new units, 16% to e-commerce and technology and 14% to redesign of the logistics network. According to its financial reports sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange, Walmart de México y Centroamérica’s sales during 2020 registered a growth of 8.6% to 696,711 million pesos.
In fact, e-commerce sales were the ones that benefited the most from the confinement and grew 175% in the year.
Florencia Lovera, Marketing Director of In-store Media México, a firm specialized in shopper marketing, points out that a good omnichannel strategy is one that recognizes in time the media, whether digital or physical, that they are performing well. This allows the budget to be adjusted and redistributed. “The points of sale must adapt to new technologies to be able to offer intelligent, interactive and attractive experiences, in this way brands can create immersive communication campaigns that generate interactions, brand loyalty and product recommendations in consumers,” he says.
More investment
This year, Walmart plans to invest 22,200 million pesos, 32.7% more than in 2020. In a videoconference to comment on the financial results of 2020, Guilherme Loureiro, general director of Walmart de México y Centroamérica, explained that the company will allocate 40% of the resources to remodel and maintain their stores.
25% will be invested to strengthen its logistics network, and 10% for e-commerce and technology projects. To be a leader in omnichannel, the retailer needs to accelerate its extended product catalog. Today it has 30 virtual stores that complement this catalog.
The remaining 25% will go to new stores, with priority at Bodega Aurrerá, since this format, according to the company, has the opportunity to gain ground in the informal market. For now, in the first quarter of 2021, the group has already enabled the on-demand service in 34 additional wineries. The service is already available in 135 stores of this format, in 23 states, and the Despensa a tu casa initiative is expected to have a double-digit share of Bodega Aurrerá’s total e-commerce sales.
On the other hand, 60 additional Walmart and Superama stores were enabled with the service on demand, to reinforce coverage in key cities such as Querétaro, Puebla, Yucatán, Guanajuato and Tamaulipas.
“In 2021 we have three major priorities defined: earning a discount, being leaders in omnichannel by offering a shopping experience where the customer and partner has control of buying and finding the best products at the best price, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and develop ecosystems so that partner clients find more valuable solutions in our commercial brands, ”said Loureiro.
To meet the proposed objectives, the manager emphasizes that they will continue with their transformation principles, and this means relying on their client-centered philosophy, their technology and data portfolio, their logistics network and the best talent in the region.
The company is looking for its omnichannel platform to have a double-digit share and will launch the monthly Walmart Pass subscription, which will compete with the Amazon Prime subscription. This membership -which is not yet known what its cost will be- will offer free home delivery, among other benefits.
Solo events
For the second consecutive year, Grupo Walmart preferred to anticipate the Good End, and present its own discount campaign, El Fin Irresistible, a competition for the promotional event organized by the National Association of Self-Service and Department Stores (ANTAD). The same happened with the Hot Sale, for the third time the retailer presented its Hot days campaign, which seeks to offer 11 days of promotions and discounts in its different business formats: Bodega Aurrerá, Sam’s Club, Superama, Walmart and Walmart Express.
Cui Arroyo, vice president of e-commerce operations at Walmart, assures that the retailer’s plans are to continue with solo events, since the consumers themselves have requested it. “We are transforming ourselves and becoming more customer centric . That means making decisions to really shape your business, as customers give you feedback. In Mexico, given the situation we are experiencing, purchasing habits have been changing. And it is very important that you are listening to them to meet the expectations they have ”, he explains.
According to Lovera, in the face of the ‘new normal’ 87% of people say they are willing to consider new brands. Constant communication with the consumer allows retailers to have a more active posture, to spread what they do so that the shopping experience is safer and more convenient. As a result, they can build stronger ties between themselves and the consumer.
Today the group has more than 5 million daily transactions in 2,599 stores and clubs. In the most important cities of the country, it serves 85% of the population in less than 10 minutes. In addition, it is building two new distribution centers. One will be dedicated to perishables, in Villahermosa, and will open in 2022, while the other is about to start operations in Mexicali and is for dry products. These centers will generate around 3,200 direct and indirect jobs and will serve ten states and more than 500 stores nationwide.
“5 years ago the strategy was announced with the goal of doubling the business, which implied a growth of 7% per year and we managed to grow at the top every year. We believe that we can again double our business in less than 10 years ”, declared Lourerio.
