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Posts Tagged ‘Walmart’

Walmart Steps Up E-commerce Presence in China

Posted in Ecommerce, General News / Technology, Retail, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

What happens when the world’s largest retailer decides to plant an e-commerce flag in the world’s most populous country?  We’re about to find out.

Walmart announced this week that it has finalized an agreement with Shanghai’s government to set up an office in the Chinese commercial city that will serve as headquarters for the retailer’s entire e-commerce operations in China.

As part of the deal, the parties will work hand-in-hand on a training program for e-commerce personnel to accelerate the overall development of online retailing in the country.

“The scale of online sales in China is expanding rapidly and is projected to match U.S. online sales in the next few years,” said Wan Ling Martello, Walmart’s executive vice president of global ecommerce and emerging markets.  “We are very optimistic about China’s e-commerce market and its growth potential. With Shanghai as our Global eCommerce’s China headquarters, we look forward to offering Chinese consumers a wider selection of quality products at good value with a great online shopping experience.”

The new office in Shanghai will report directly to Martello and Walmart Asia’s president and CEO, Scott Price.

Though Walmart has operated physical storefronts in China since 1996, it wasn’t until recently that it set its sights on establishing a stronger online retail presence in the country.  As part of that strategy, the retailer bought a minority stake in the Chinese e-commerce site Yihaodian last month.

Of course, Walmart is hardly the first U.S. retailer or e-commerce group to invest in China’s potentially huge online retail market.  This year alone, Apple, Gap, PayPal and Groupon have all set up shop there, and for good reason, too.

China’s Internet Network Information Center, the arm of the Chinese government that looks after the country’s web infrastructure, estimates that there were 161 million online shoppers in the country at the close of 2010.

Meanwhile, reports from Forrester Research project that online sales in China could reach nearly $160 billion by 2015.  By comparison, e-commerce sales totaled less than $50 billion last year.

That’s a lot of shoppers and a lot of potential revenue, to say the least.

As always, leave us your thoughts and comments!

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Walmart Plants Flag in China, Will Others Follow Suit?

Posted in Ecommerce, Online Shopping, tagged , , , , on May 16, 2011 | 1 Comment »

In what could be the start of a quickly-escalating and widespread trend, Walmart announced late last week that it has bought a minority stake in Chinese e-tailer Yihaodian, which specializes in consumer electronics, apparel, groceries and baby products.

The total dollar amount invested in the transaction was not disclosed, but the move by the world’s largest retailer certainly brought to light one major reality: that China has ascended to “next great frontier” status for ecommerce and it may only be a matter of time before more U.S. retailers are following suit.

“Online sales in China are growing rapidly and are projected to match U.S. online sales in the next few years,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman of Walmart Stores and CEO of global e-commerce and global sourcing.  “By investing in Yihaodian, we’re continuing to establish a presence in this important e-commerce market, and are moving forward on fulfilling our aspiration of being the leading global multichannel retailer.”

Yihaodian, launched in the summer of 2008, currently carries more than 75,000 products, employs 2,000 individuals and offers next-day delivery of essential daily items.

Now granted, Walmart’s reach and resources put the company in a better position to expand to a place like China. But one look at the country’s online shopping climate and projected e-commerce activity expected to take place there in the coming years and it’s not a stretch to imagine that Walmart is just the first of many that will be expanding across the Pacific.

A Forrester Research report from late-2010 forecasted that online retail sales in China could reach $160 billion by the year 2015.  That would be more than triple the $48.8 billion in e-tail sales registered in China last year, representing the fastest online sales growth rate in the entire Asia-Pacific region. China is also on the doorstep of overtaking Japan as the largest Asia-Pacific online shopping market as well, according to the report.

And oh yeah, there is that small matter of China having billions of potential shoppers within its borders that probably helped facilitate Walmart’s investment.

Not surprisingly, Yihaodian is pretty excited to have Walmart on board:

“Wal-Mart brings its global vision into our business,” said Gang Yu, the company’s co-founder and chairman.  “In addition, its supply chain excellence will help us gain a competitive edge in the e-commerce industry in China.”

What are your thoughts on Walmart’s expansion into China’s marketplace?  Leave us your thoughts and comments!

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Victoria’s Secret Leads E-commerce Industry in Facebook Likes

Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook Commerce, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Merchants who are new to selling on Facebook may want to head on over to the Victoria’s Secret fan page on the social networking site and take some notes on how to engage fans and customers.

The lingerie retailer and its Pink line for younger women were the two most “Liked” brands on Facebook during the month of March, garnering 12.1 million and 8.4 million Likes respectively in the latest Facebook Commerce Index report from Channel Advisor.

Channel Advisor, which works with retailers to get them listed on major online marketplaces and comparison shopping sites, tracks the total number of Likes accumulated by more than 500 brands every month for its index.  To our knowledge, it’s the only gauge of how retailers are performing when it comes to engaging their friends and fans on Facebook.

“Victoria’s Secret is a popular brand that does a lot with Facebook at all its different touch points—catalog, online and in store,” says Scot Wingo, ChannelAdvisor’s CEO.  “They’re clearly focused on it.”

The full top ten e-commerce brands for March, along with their total number of Likes and the month-over-month percentage increase is as follows:

1. Victoria’s Secret: 12.1 million, 4%
2. Victoria’s Secret Pink brand: 8.4 million, 5%
3. Adidas Originals: 8.2 million, 15%
4. Lacoste: 5.2 million, 11%
5. Burberry: 5.1 million, 20%
6. WWE: 4.9 million, 9%
7. Hollister Co.: 4.6 million, 6%
8. Wal-Mart: 4.5 million, 23%
9. Forever 21: 4.2 million, 3%
10. Abercrombie & Fitch: 4.1 million, 7%

Though it didn’t crack the top ten, Build-a-Bear Workshop enjoyed the highest percentage of growth of Facebook followers for the month (among all retailers with at least 100k Likes), increasing a whopping 146 percent from 341,536 to nearly 841,000 followers thanks to a steady stream of Facebook-only promotions and special offers in March.

While the true value of a Facebook Like is still up for debate, what is obvious is that Likes do provide a gauge of just how effectively a company is communicating with its Facebook followers.  Companies and brands that engage their fans regularly are the ones that are getting the most out of their F-commerce offerings while those that aren’t tend to be at a competitive disadvantage.

Thoughts?  Leave us a comment below!

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Walmart Pick Up Program to Go National

Posted in Ecommerce, Online Shopping, Retail, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Walmart has announced that its’ ‘Pick Up Today’ offering, which gives shoppers the convenience of ordering items online and then picking them up at local physical locations within four hours that same day, will be available across the country starting this June.

The retailer had been testing the new service since October in 800 or so stores but was limiting the offering to only electronics, video games and household appliances.   The national roll-out will incorporate almost 3,600 Walmart locations across the country and up to 40,000 different products, though some product categories will still not be included.

Popular product categories such as toys, home decoration, hardware, outdoor living and baby gear, however, will be part of the national launch.  Food items will not be eligible at this time.

“We’ve seen strong customer response from initial tests of Pick Up Today, and we’re pleased to expand the program,” says Steve Nave, Walmart.com’s senior vice president and general manager.

“Wal-Mart is uniquely positioned to combine the power of e-commerce with our national retail footprint to offer a leading, multichannel experience that delivers the best savings and convenience to our customers,”  Nave continued.

The announcement also included a tweak to the company’s Site-to-Store program by which products ordered online will be delivered to a consumer’s nearest Walmart location within 7 days instead of the initial 10.  That service will be  available to shoppers at no charge as well.

Walmart certainly isn’t the first big-name retailer to offer consumers these kinds of convenient shipping and delivery options.  Best Buy and Sears are just two of several others who have done the same.

Got a comment? Leave it below and have a great weekend!

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LivingSocial Brings in Former Walmart Executive

Posted in Ecommerce, People, tagged , , , , , , , on January 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Flush with cash and better positioned than ever to make a run at Groupon for dominance in the daily deal/featured product shopping market, LivingSocial has made another big splash as part of its continuing evolution.

The company has named John Bax, a former e-commerce executive with Walmart, as LivingSocial’s new chief financial officer.

“We’re excited to bring John’s fantastic track record and diverse background in all things financial to the team, as well as a solid reputation among the financial community and a deep understanding of LivingSocial’s business,” says Tim O’Shaughnessy, LivingSocial’s CEO and co-founder.  “We are confident he will contribute to our company’s continued growth and stability.”

The hiring comes on the heels of last month’s $175 million investment that LivingSocial received from web giant Amazon.

At the time, competition in the daily deal site arena was at a fever pitch. Industry news sources were abuzz with Amazon’s investment package and the rumored $6 billion investment by Google in Groupon that preceded it.  Though the Google deal never materialized, those frantic few weeks highlighted just how popular daily deal sites have become with consumers and how many big e-commerce names were quickly moving to snatch the leading ones up to add to their own offerings.

Now, with the holiday shopping season behind us, it appears that the competition among daily deal sites is going to be heating up throughout 2011 and continue to be a major story in e-commerce news this year.

Bax arrives at LivingSocial having most recently served as the chief financial officer at RecycleBank, a New York-based company that runs a retailer-funded rewards program where consumers can earn points simply by recycling household goods.  He held the CFO position at Sentient, a private travel firm, prior to that.

Bax’s time at Walmart preceded both Sentient and RecycleBank, where he first worked as a vice president of planning and analysis for the chain’s brick and mortar locations before taking over the Walmart e-commerce position.

Got a new hiring or promotion you want the e-commerce industry to know about? Send it to us and we’ll give it some coverage!

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Consumer Reports Puts out ‘Naughty & Nice’ Customer Service List

Posted in Ecommerce, Online Shopping, tagged , , , , , , on November 23, 2010 | 2 Comments »

We love catchy, holiday-themed news items that come out this time of year and today’s certainly fits the bill.

Consumer Reports has released its latest public-education campaign for holiday shoppers, devising a “Naughty and Nice Holiday List” identifying the best and worst customer service policies out there and the companies that have implemented them.  And while the list isn’t specific to ecommerce or retail in general, there a few well-known merchants on both sides of the roster whose inclusion certainly could shape where you spend your holiday dollars in 2010.

“Our goal isn’t to laud one company or put down another, but to call out specific policies that we think put consumers first or put them behind the eight ball,” said Tod Marks, senior editor at Consumer Reports.

Consumer Reports compiled the list using input from its own reporters and editors who cover everything from shopping to travel to telecommunications.  To be fair, CR pointed out on its website that there are quite a few other companies out there that it didn’t put on either of the lists but have similar customer service practices to the ones highlighted in this most recent campaign.

So who made the lists, and why?

Macy’s and BestBuy were the big retail names with the misfortune of making it onto the Naughty list. Macy’s gets on there for basing their shipping charges on the dollar amount of any particular order, rather than using the size or weight of a package.  BestBuy, meanwhile, caught CR’s attention because the electronics retailer is offering only a 14-day grace period to return higher-end items such as digital cameras, camcorders and computers.

Outside the retail sector, the most egregious customer service practices that made the Naughty list would have to be Spirit Airline’s new policy of charging for carry-on bags (come on now, really Spirit?) and Verizon, which has doubled its $350 early termination fee for canceling smart phone contracts beyond the 30-day grace period.  Yeah, we’re not fans of either one of those companies after hearing that.

Not all is bad though and retailers were a bit more numerous on the Nice list this year.

Zappos.com, well-known for its superior treatment of customers, got a mention for its policy of free shipping and returns and for providing a prepaid return label on all orders.  L.L. Bean is also on there, thanks to their 100 percent satisfaction guarantee, which lets customers return any item at any time for any reason.   Finally, Walmart made the Nice list for its “no receipt, no problem” policy, which allows customers to return most items for cash refunds, even exchanges or gift cards depending on the cost of the item itself.

Southwest Airlines, Costco, U.S. Cellular, Hotels.com and Orvis all appear on the Nice list as well this year.

Obviously, the holidays tend to be a time when we notice customer service highs and lows a little bit more.  While we trust Consumer Reports, we want to hear from you too.   Got a holiday customer service horror story to share?  Is there a “Nice”  company that deserves to be on this list as well?  Leave us your comments!

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