The retailer’s event will start early, at 6:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day, and will target smartphone users.
Walmart is hoping to get the very most out of the mobile shopping trend this holiday season by starting its event earlier and ensuring that consumers who are interested in buying gifts over their smartphones will find it very convenient to do so.
The retail giant plans to add thousands of deals to its mobile app and official website on Thanksgiving evening.
Walmart has predicted that mobile shopping activities will make up about 75 percent of the holiday traffic that it sees online, this year. For this reason, it has now made it possible for its mobile app to be used to discover products and make purchases in as few clicks as possible. They are even hoping that some consumers will be willing to make their smartphone based purchases directly through some of their strategically placed ads.
The mobile shopping app has also had a number of improvements made in order to better the in-store experience.
For instance, the mobile app has been designed to make it possible for shoppers to be able to browse a map of the store in which they are currently standing, in order to be able to discover where the Black Friday sales are situated in relation to their current physical location. The hope is that this will help to reduce some of the confusion that consumers face in trying to navigate the stores to find the sales, particularly on the busiest shopping days of the year.
Moreover, the mobile app will also make it possible for users to read reviews of the products they are seeing in front of them, through the use of their smartphones. Reviews have become an important part of the decision making process for many shoppers, so having them handy while in store could be a considerable advantage.
The mobile shopping app will also provide individuals with the ability to add products to a wish list that they can create and then share with other people. Walmart is also hoping to make it easy for consumers to check in once they’ve arrived so they can pick up what they’ve ordered in advance. The check in notifies employees at the location that the consumer has arrived, allowing them to have the order ready for the completion of the transaction.
The Merchant Customer Exchange’s CurrentC platform is meant to provide large retailers with a way to effectively engage mobile consumers. The organization itself is comprised of large retailers, such as Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. These retailers have all agreed to use the CurrentC platform, but the service has yet to see a commercial release. As such, retailers are looking for ways to embrace mobile payments in order to better serve consumers that are interested in shopping with their smartphones and tablets.