Walmart Product Launch Analysis

Walmart: Product Launch Analysis
Walmart, Inc. has grown over the last 50 years into the largest retailer in the world, with 260 million customers that shop at 11,695 stores in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. Walmart’s annual revenue tops $485.9 billion and they employ approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide (“About”, n.d.). Walmart is the behemoth of the retail world both in terms of brick and mortar stores and in e-commerce; however, Walmart must continue to employ new and innovative services to keep up with the competition. Amazon, Inc. recently acquired Whole Foods Inc. This acquisition represents Amazon’s further push into the grocery market and with Amazon’s dominant online presence and Whole Foods infrastructure

Walmart Inc. is in the midst of trying to stay relevant to a consumer base that is becoming more and more online savvy and reliant. Their efforts to invest in and leverage their unique combination of stores and online presence represent an ability to bring convenience to their consumers and added value to their brand. The successfulness of this endeavor will be dependent on the successfulness of this investment and service launch. Based on the importance of this initiative and the changing landscape of the retail industry, there are many studies and resources available to fully analyze this service

Walmart is utilizing their retail stores as the “warehouse” source for these online orders, so not much can be done to the layout of the grocery inventory as these are already set in place by their retail strategy; however, Walmart can implement a customer friendly layout when introducing their drive thru kiosk pickup lanes. Walmart will need to evaluate the space that is most conducive to customers that want to avoid the heavy trafficked areas of the retail store, allow for quick and easy access via car or truck, and multiple exits to route customers along their way. This area will need to be accessible by the staff that transports the filled grocery orders from the retail store. Walmart may not need many additional materials to implement this service as the products should already be housed in their store. They may need to plan for additional equipment and/or storage material to transport the filled orders from the store to the kiosk. Walmart will also need to install the drive thru kiosk and ensure there are enough terminals to match demand. Last, Walmart will need to hire additional staff to perform these new