Walmart enhances user experience on app, website
Ahead of the holiday season, Walmart has made enhancements to its site experience and app to improve online shoppers’ digital experience.
Noting that this is one of the busiest times of year for Walmart customers, Tom Ward, executive vice president and chief e-commerce officer at Walmart U.S., said in a post on the company’s website, “When it comes to online shopping, customers want a great experience that takes the guesswork out of shopping and makes it easy for them to find the perfect item. They don’t want to buy a dress and have to hope it fits. They don’t want to purchase a new toy and hope it’s what their nephew wanted. And they want to be able to shop with the surety that their groceries are EBT or SNAP eligible. Customers want to be able to shop with confidence.”
To that end, over the last few months, Walmart has made significant improvements to its site experience and launched new features to make shopping on Walmart.com and its app easier, more engaging and more personalized. “This way, when customers are ready to shift into holiday mode, we will be ready with their ideal digital experience, no finger crossing required,” Ward said.
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Pointing out that the retailer knows that a gift registry takes the guesswork out of shopping for couples headed down the aisle or welcoming a new family member, having a housewarming, a new pet or birthday, Ward said Walmart recently refreshed its site experience to make the gift registry process simpler and easier.
“Upgrades to the registry experience include new recommended items, available on web and coming soon to registry on our app, which allows customers to start their registry with ease by selecting from a list of the most popular and wanted items on our wedding or baby registries; and Scan to Add, a new feature rolling out to customers soon,” Ward said. “This feature allows customers to scan items in store using the Walmart app and add them directly to a registry, making it seamless whether shopping online or in-store. We’ll even keep track of who bought what gift and when, so it’s easy to send a quick thank you to your gift-giver.”
Ward also outlined the enhancements to the website that are targeted at holiday shopping for kids. “We also think lists have the potential to be a huge help when it comes to holiday shopping. Kids can make their lists on Walmart.com, ‘hearting’ items to quickly add them to a list and share them with friends and family so they’ll know exactly what gifts to get, making it easier for them to choose a gift with confidence. So instead of wondering whether your nephew is more into Legos or Hot Wheels these days, you can just select from his gift list, add to cart, create a personalized gift message and make his holiday. And this is just the beginning, we’ll be launching many new capabilities, making the gifting experience simple, accessible and more fun,” he said.
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When it comes to shopping for clothes, Ward said that Walmart knows customers often wonder how to style a particular piece, what can they wear it with and how they can accessorize it. “Our new online styling feature, powered by visual outfitting and styling solution Stylitics, allows customers to complete the look,” he noted. “So while in the past, a customer might have just been offered a dress, we want to take the next step and show the customer how she might style that dress to suit her personal style or occasion.”
Another upgrade that Ward shared is the Choose Your Own Model feature, announced earlier this year on Walmart.com. Now, when shopping for a piece of clothing, a customer no longer has to just guess how the item will look on her body. Instead, she can choose a model to more closely resemble her proportions to give a better idea of whether the item is a slay or a nay, according to Ward.
He also outlined the enhancements that Walmart has implemented for grocery shoppers, pointing out that regardless of how customers pay for their food, the retailer wants them to be able to enjoy convenient shopping options to fit their schedules.
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“And we want to make the experience as seamless as possible for them. When shopping for grocery items on Walmart.com, customers can select a filter to just view EBT- or SNAP-eligible items and can easily identify EBT-eligible products through clear badging on the item and search pages,” he said. “Then they can simply use their EBT or SNAP debit cards to pay at checkout. So, whether you’re shopping for a holiday meal or one of the 100-plus dinners in between, we got you.”
Additionally, Walmart has made significant improvements to its Spanish language search experience on its site. Customers can opt in or out of the translated query and search in Spanish for over 600,000 of the most commonly ordered items.
“The throughline of all these enhancements is taking the guesswork out of online shopping so customers can shop with ease and confidence, empowering them to make decisions that are just right for them,” Ward said. “Of course, it remains crucial we continue to nail the fundamentals: great items at great prices and convenient, flexible pickup and delivery options.”
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Lastly, Ward said the retailer’s goal is to create a seamless site and app experience that makes it easier for customers to find value and savings, whether they’re shopping for familiar weekly essentials or something new and different.
“More robust content on item pages — videos, images and more — ensures when a customer lands on a product they’re interested in, they have all the information they need to feel confident purchasing it,” Ward said. “Not only are these enhancements making the e-commerce experience even easier and more convenient for our customers right now, but also, they are creating a strong foundation for us to build upon as we accelerate the site experience in the future,” Ward said.