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By: Courtney Biscan | May 17, 2019
Walmart recently announced its Q1 earnings, reporting its best comps in 9 years. Here’s our quick take on comments made during the retail giant’s media call:
As a Genius brand in Gartner L2’s Digital IQ Index: Grocery, Walmart continues to lead grocers in omnichannel offerings. Leveraging its extensive physical footprint, the retailer has been aggressively expanding both delivery and pickup, as evidenced by its goal to cover approximately 80% of the US population by the end of 2019. This physical footprint is a major advantage compared to Amazon, which has worked to expand its physical locations but still lags behind Walmart. It will likely continue to push on this front moving forward into 2020.
In addition to the most recent earnings release, Walmart also recently announced the rollout of one-day shipping, with functionality already appearing on-site. This follows Amazon’s similar announcement, and marks a new shift in customer expectations. Notably, in the press release, Walmart ties next-day delivery with its grocery fulfillment options, indicating how important it is for customers to be able to receive their items any way they want them.
Grocery is only one of the areas where Walmart is expanding. It is also moving further into the fashion space, not only with its private label lines, but also with a more general campaign. Its We Dress America looks to appeal broadly across customers and astutely showcases both its own private label items with name brands.
Walmart is also leaning into celebrity partnerships, including its home line with Drew Barrymore and baby line with Kristen Bell and Dax Shepherd. Both lines have been accompanied by campaigns that align with the personal brands of these celebrities, including humorous videos on Instagram from personal accounts.
Per a Digiday survey, 90% of surveyed media buyers purchased ads on Amazon, 23% purchased on Walmart, and 16% on Target. Given the success Amazon has had in this field, both Walmart and Target have been making moves to improve their own on-site ad offerings. As Amazon has recently come under attack for its aggressive promotion of its own private label goods, only time will tell if Walmart and Target can convince vendors to advertise with them instead.
Given the continued expansion of Dollar General in the past year and its plans for 2019, it’s no surprise that Walmart sees the discount environment as a very competitive field. As Dollar General continues to open in areas that Walmart has historically not seen as viable markets, Walmart will have to keep an eye out to ensure it continues to deliver on its slogan to help customers “Save Money. Live Better.”
See more: Walmart