Walmart is Testing a Text-to-Shop Tool for Easier Shopping
Michael Hemsworth — October 20, 2021 — Business
References: walmart & drugstorenews
A text-to-shop tool is being piloted by Walmart in collaboration with Global Tech and Store No. 8 to help maximize the ease at which consumers can shop for their favorite products each day. The tool is being piloted in select areas and would work to provide customers with the ability to simply send a text message regarding what they'd like to purchase. This could help to further revolutionize the shopping experience by enabling shoppers to quickly and easily type out what they want instead of needing to remember or make a list.
Vice President of Conversational Commerce at Store No. 8 Dominique Essig spoke on the new Walmart text-to-shop tool saying, "We’re learning a lot about when and how customers prefer a conversational experience, and we look forward to making this more widely available in the future. Walmart gets it, and we’re here to make the shopping process simple and convenient. This type of innovative customer experience is exactly what we build every day. And while Walmart has offered voice shopping for years, text shopping is just getting warmed up. By understanding our customers’ preferences, we also solve the paradox of choice and save them time by serving up what we know they love best. Most importantly, we offer Walmart customers the opportunity to shop no matter where they are, and to communicate naturally by simply asking for what they want, any way they want.”
Vice President of Conversational Commerce at Store No. 8 Dominique Essig spoke on the new Walmart text-to-shop tool saying, "We’re learning a lot about when and how customers prefer a conversational experience, and we look forward to making this more widely available in the future. Walmart gets it, and we’re here to make the shopping process simple and convenient. This type of innovative customer experience is exactly what we build every day. And while Walmart has offered voice shopping for years, text shopping is just getting warmed up. By understanding our customers’ preferences, we also solve the paradox of choice and save them time by serving up what we know they love best. Most importantly, we offer Walmart customers the opportunity to shop no matter where they are, and to communicate naturally by simply asking for what they want, any way they want.”
Trend Themes
1. Conversational Commerce - The rise of text-to-shop tools demonstrates the increasing importance of conversational commerce, where customers can interact with brands through messaging platforms for a more convenient and personalized shopping experience.
2. Simplified Customer Experience - Text-to-shop tools offer a simple and seamless shopping experience that reduces the cognitive effort required by customers, making it easier for them to purchase products on-the-go or when shopping in-store.
3. Multi-channel Shopping - Text-to-shop initiatives provide customers with another channel to shop on top of in-store and online shopping, creating a more multi-dimensional, convenient shopping journey.
Industry Implications
1. Retail - Text-to-shop tools are already being piloted by major retailers, making it ripe for further innovation and expansion across the retail industry.
2. Telecommunications - The success of text-to-shop tools and conversational commerce relies heavily on telecommunication providers, providing an opportunity for partnerships and collaboration between retailers and telecom companies.
3. Artificial Intelligence - Conversational AI technology is at the heart of text-to-shop initiatives, and the implementation of more sophisticated natural language processing and machine learning algorithms could take the customer experience to the next level.
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