Wal-Mart has high hopes for mobile commerce
Wal-Mart is already considered the world’s largest retailer, but the company is eager to solidify its place as such by providing services that it claims no other retailer will be able to match. The retailer has plans to combine its 10,000 stores and 10 global e-commerce websites in order to develop a new platform that the company believes is more suitable for the modern consumer. The initiative is meant to make Wal-Mart the most powerful online retailer in the world and mobile commerce may be able to help the company achieve this goal.
Consumers begin to favor mobile commerce over traditional commerce
Mobile commerce has grown to become a very attractive concept throughout the world. The idea that a mobile devices, whether it be a smartphone or tablet, can be used to purchase goods or pay for services has become very alluring to consumers. This idea means that these people would not have to worry about physical currencies and could make a purchase with little more than a wave of their device or a tap of their finger. The convenience of mobile commerce is one of its most attractive features, especially to those that rely heavily on their mobile devices, and Wal-Mart believes that mobile commerce could help it dominate the online world.
Retailer to launch new initiative this summer
Wal-Mart has announced a plan to launch a pilot project this summer. This project involves allowing consumers to purchase products online and retrieve these products from lockers in physical Wal-Mart stores. This is similar to an initiative that was launched by Wal-Mart’s primary competitor, Amazon, where the online retailer would deliver purchased products to stores so that they could be picked up at a convenient time for consumers. This particular service will be somewhat accommodating to mobile consumers as the service will be optimized for use on mobile devices.
Retailer to update e-commerce platforms
Wal-Mart also has plans to renovate its e-commerce structure. Currently, the company’s online retail presence is based on old technological platforms. Many of these platforms are simply not designed to accommodate mobile traffic. As such, these platforms are often linked to poor performance on mobile devices. In an effort to better accommodate mobile commerce, Wal-Mart has plans to upgrade its e-commerce platforms.
Denny |
November 14, 2012
Wal-Mart sees mobile commerce as a major part of its holiday season
The holiday season is here and that is good news for retailers. Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the biggest holidays for the retail industry because these are days in which these companies see the most traffic, both digital and physical. Retailers have been seeing a growing trend amongst consumers that suggests that mobile commerce is becoming a popular way to purchase products. Wal-Mart, one of the world’s largest retail companies, notes that this interest in mobile commerce is gaining a massive amount of momentum amongst consumers and may have a significant presence during the 2012 holiday season.
Retailer expects sizable portion of traffic will come from mobile consumers
Wal-Mart senior vice president of mobile and digital strategy Gibu Thomas suggests that a sizable portion of the company’s consumers will make purchases from smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices this year. The retailer has been tracking the growing popularity of mobile commerce within its stores throughout the year and saw significant mobile traffic during the 2011 holiday season. As such, Wal-Mart stores are beginning to find new ways to provide service to consumers that would rather make use of mobile commerce platforms and shopping applications.
40% of shoppers expected to be mobile
Thomas suggests that more than 40% of shoppers visiting Wal-Mart stores will do so electronically during the 2012 holiday season. The retail giant sees this as a promising opportunity and has begun working to revamp its mobile shopping application, which has been downloaded millions of times all over the world. The application will receive updates that will make it more inclusive of mobile commerce and marketing in the hopes of engaging consumers that favor their mobile device over traditional forms of commerce.
Wal-Mart throws more support behind its mobile commerce efforts
Wal-Mart already boasts of a strong Internet presence and has managed to cater well to mobile consumers. Mobile commerce has, however, been relatively low on the retailer’s priority list until very recently. The company is seeing more people adopt mobile commerce platform and is keen to not be left behind by these consumers over a matter of service. As such, Wal-Mart is committed to finding ways to engage these consumers and provide them with services they want to see.
