Anyone who has ever shopped at Walmart knows how big the stores are and the deals they offer on every item. Shoppers are guaranteed good deals and savings at Walmart.
Consider this – Walmart has more than 7 million items for sale. Like every retailer, Walmart is trying to make it easier for its employees and customers to find what they need in a quick and convenient manner.
Therefore, to take the shopping experience to the next level, what new additions did the retailer make that has the market abuzz?
- Pharmacy – easy refills, no lines and the entire transaction takes just minutes
- Money Services – no extra paperwork, save time by going through the express lane with money already loaded in the wallet
- Express Lane services (yet to be introduced)
- E-Receipts
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Walmart introduced these features upon customer requests with an intent to offering a “personal assistant” who makes finding items and deals super easy.
Retail App use hasn’t been made available in every store and is expected to happen soon. The introduction of such capabilities makes Walmart the “go-to” store. Even Walmart is investing a lot of money so that it can transform its business model and remain competitive.
The company’s emphasis is on streamlining the entire shopping process, especially since customers can buy everything under one roof.
Even a company like Walmart is trying to incorporate changes in the marketplace to enhance customer experiences by introducing new features periodically.
Retail mobile app play a critical role in bridging the gap between physical and digital commerce. Not only do they facilitate convenient and fast buying, mobile apps are also fast transforming into vital platforms for interaction between retailers and customers.
Walmart’s current e-commerce sales graph for the US market shows:
However, in spite of the slight dip in the trend, the market for Walmart’s e-commerce business is picking up in 2019 again. In fact, experts project a staggering 25.8% of Walmart’s entire business to be generated through e-commerce in the United States by 2022.
Considering that shopping with apps has touched 57% in 2018, it is absolutely evident that customers will continue to use this method even in the coming days. As a retailer, if you want to create a retail app which is as successful as Walmart’s, this is what you need to get done.
Features to Incorporate:
- Availability of Items along with Stock Count:
This feature informs shoppers whether a specific item is available for purchase and how many are currently in stock. If a specific item is sold out, then the likely availability date should be mentioned along with a reminder to purchase when there is enough inventory in stock.
- Price Check:
This feature lets customers check the current selling price and do comparison shopping. This a key feature that is must have for any ecommerce app development.
- Other Product Information:
Including customer reviews have proven to be quite useful and motivates customer buying. Including recipes or new use ideas additionally boosts customer interest.
- Similar Products:
If customers can look at similar products and their functions, they will definitely buy what they want. This will cut down on item returns and assist in streamlining the management of returned merchandise.
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Previews:
With growing AR use and 3D modeling, companies which offer product previews and features stand a better chance of selling any product. This is especially true in the case of clothing and electronic items where customers like to take a closer look before making the final purchase decision.
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Geo-Location:
This feature works well if a customer is going shopping to a specific store. Use this effectively to promote sales with offers, deals on product combinations and loyalty programs as well. Include store maps so that these products can be located easily by the customer.
- Multiple Payment Gateways:
Offering customers a choice of payment methods will boost app use. Whether it is Apple Pay, Braintree, PayPal, Google Pay or some method popular in a specific country, redirecting shoppers to specific pages for their convenience will ensure higher sales.
- QR Codes:
This feature is now being used by many companies to get information on products and their prices. By using their phone to scan this code, customers can get other information like buying trends, reviews and discounts.
- Product Finder:
This feature must be included so that customers are quick to find exactly what they need. Adding it to the smart search feature will let customers find a product based on size, colour and any are filtering – criteria that may be applicable to the specific product search. It saves time because there is no need to scroll through an entire catalogue, mindlessly.
Read Also: 10 Best Shopping Apps UK 2019
Closing Thoughts:
The Walmart online business model acts as the benchmark for retailers when developing their individual ecommerce apps. They exactly know which key features are useful to in order to generate business and streamline searches.
If a customer must spend a lot of time searching for deals at their favourite retailer, they are bound to give up and find the same product elsewhere, if search consumers a lot of their precious time.
Simplicity and convenience are essential for a seamless shopping experience. Spending time upfront to integrate a retail app with inventory and payment methods will play a key role in staying competitive.
Whether app development is done in-house or outsourced, look at what the competition is doing right. This will offer a great roadmap to getting the formula right, and ultimately paving the way to success.
