Founded in Arkansas fifty years ago, Walmart has since become one of the largest international corporations. With over ten thousand stores in over twenty-five countries, Walmart has a wide variety of products, ranging from home and garden to grocery and pharmacy. This allows customers to complete their shopping with just one stop, and the convenience does not end there! Walmart has also been showing significant growth in e-commerce or online sales. With this growth in mind, here are three things that online retailers can learn from Walmart’s e-commerce growth.
In-Store Pickup
While many people shop online, for the most part, the average shopper uses both online and in-store shopping to get what they need and to save money. Walmart is taking advantage of this, and the fact that there is a Walmart close to most of the population of the United States, to compete with online retail giants. Walmart offers their customers the option to have their online orders shipped to the store nearest them. This allows the customer to save money on shipping. If a customer is near a store location, this might be something to consider. In-store pickup might also encourage the customer to buy more objects at the in-store location that they might not have purchased online.
Shipping
To beat out the online sales of companies like Amazon, Walmart offers free two-day shipping on purchases that total over thirty-five dollars. This has led to an increase in online sales. Often, people will try to fill their carts just a little bit more to avoid having to pay for shipping. The two-day shipping is also a very nice perk. By offering a similar perk to customers, online retailers can see a similar growth in their own sales. It may seem risky to offer free two-day shipping, but for most online retailers, it has paid off in the long run.
Walmart has also been working to improve the way that they deliver their products to their customers. This helps ensure that the correct products are sent to the correct customer quickly and efficiently. The result is that the customer has more faith in the Walmart brand and the company’s ability to deliver goods quickly. By researching and trying out new methods of faster and more efficient shipping, other online retailers and their customers can benefit as well.
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Sometimes, smaller independent companies can work with Walmart to sell their products under the Walmart e-commerce umbrella: the Walmart Marketplace. This can help these smaller companies gain more exposure while giving them a chance to build up a customer following.
The effective online business model also gives Walmart an advantage when it comes to online job applications. These can be done through a job application center, which provides valuable information about the jobs available. These jobs range from online to in-store and provide an advertisement for the company. Other businesses can learn from this when it comes to advertising and hiring.
Walmart is a large business that has been very successful in several different areas. With the recent development of a thriving e-commerce department, there are several lessons that other online retailers can learn from Walmart.