The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
BENTONVILLE, United States — A redesigned Walmart Inc. website will go live next month, part of a strategy by the world's largest retailer to lure customers away from rival Amazon.com Inc. with a more personalised shopping experience.
The new site will include new colours, fonts and lifestyle-focused imagery, according to a blog post from Walmart’s US e-commerce chief Marc Lore. The site’s homepage will feature top-selling items in each customer’s location and a quick link to purchase previously ordered items. It will also include a new fashion section, while other categories will get a fresh look later in the year.
“We want each category to feel like you are shopping a specialty store,” Lore said in the post. “Our goal is to make it compelling for customers to shop for whatever they are looking for — whether diapers, laundry detergent or a new dining room table.”
The redesign, which Lore first mentioned at an October investor conference, aims to convince Walmart’s frugal in-store shoppers to buy online as well: those that do spend nearly twice as much. The fresh look could also help the retailer regain momentum it lost over the holiday period, when online sales grew at less than half the pace of previous quarters.
ADVERTISEMENT
The retailer is chasing a moving target, though, as Amazon continues to push into key Walmart categories like fashion and food.
Customer Feedback
Lore said the redesign was based on feedback from customers, existing suppliers and also from brands that don’t currently sell on the site. He has pledged to make Walmart.com more of an upscale destination by courting premium brands, like Bose speakers. The new fashion page will eventually include items from department-store chain Lord & Taylor, which inked a partnership with Walmart last year.
The memo made no mention of Jet.com, the site co-founded by Lore that Walmart bought in 2016. Jet’s traffic has declined in recent months as Walmart has focused more efforts on its primary website.
By Matthew Boyle; editors: Crayton Harrison, Jonathan Roeder, Lisa Wolfson.
From analysis of the global fashion and beauty industries to career and personal advice, BoF’s founder and CEO, Imran Amed, will be answering your questions on Sunday, February 18, 2024 during London Fashion Week.
The State of Fashion 2024 breaks down the 10 themes that will define the industry in the year ahead.
Imran Amed reviews the most important fashion stories of the year and shares his predictions on what this means for the industry in 2024.
After three days of inspiring talks, guests closed out BoF’s gathering for big thinkers with a black tie gala followed by an intimate performance from Rita Ora — guest starring Billy Porter.