2. What is it?
Multichannel retailing is
the merging of retail
operations in such a
manner that enables
the transacting of a
customer via many
connected channels.
Channels include
retail stores, online
stores, mobile
applications, social
media and any other
method of transacting
with a customer.
4. Why do you care?
Wal-Mart, over the past couple of years, has become a major player in this
space.
Facebook fans have grown from 850,000 in April of 2010 to over 21,000,000.
Launch of “My Local Wal-Mart” last year, with 2800 stores having their own facebook page.
Last year spent $300 million acquiring Kosmix (now called @walmartlabs) to help drive social and
mobile efforts from Silicon Valley, and have since acquired 4 more technology companies.
Have built a Wal-Mart and Sam’s iPhone app.
Have launched a Pinterest site.
In September 2012 launched “Polaris”, Wal-Mart’s own in-house search engine used by walmart.com
and it’s mobile apps.
In the past 9 months Wal-Mart has executed iPhone app programs (Superhero AR) as a key piece of
promotions geared at driving improvement in customer experience/interaction.
5. Quick Facts (2012)
95% of facebook wall posts are not answered by brands.
There are roughly 100 million active (log in at least once a day) twitter users.
Pinterest has grown 4,000% over the past 6 months.
83% of Pinterest users are women.
Most popular categories are Fashion, Desserts, Clothes, and Birthdays.
4.8 Billion people own a mobile phone while 4.2 Billion own a toothbrush.
Mobile Commerce is expected to grow from $3 Billion in 2010 to $31 Billion in 2016.
Social Media sites and blogs reach 80% of all internet users.
6. How can you leverage this space?
Get in the game by developing programs, analyzing the activity, and taking
action.
Most companies have created facebook pages. The next step is to analyze the activity on these
pages and respond appropriately. Drive brand evangelism among your facebook community.
Pinterest launched in March of 2010, was named by Time Magazine as a “Top 50 Website” in August
of 2011, and has grown 4,000% over the past 6 months. This social networking site provides an
opportunity to build a competitive advantage over competing brands as it is new and a lesser focal
point relative to facebook and twitter.
Analyze brand activity across social networks, blogs, images, video, comments etc. to understand
information related to how often people are talking about your brand, if those discussions are positive
or negative, who is talking about your brand and when it was last mentioned. Do the same for
competing brands to see how you compare and where you have opportunity to take advantage of.
7. How can you leverage this space?
Get in the game by developing programs, analyzing the activity, and taking
action.
Most companies are utilizing QR codes. The next step is to analyze the usage and understand ROI
on these programs by looking at number of scans as well as what actions to take based on where
and when scans are occurring.
Monitor Wal-Mart and Sam’s iPhone app’s to confirm accuracy of information among your brands as
well as gaining insights to competing brand prices, features, rollbacks etc.
Wal-Mart has recently implemented iPhone applications in some of their promotions. This is a
relatively new space and one they will continue to work in. This is an opportunity for suppliers to
drive innovative promotions and be on the leading edge.
Monitor specific Wal-Mart facebook promotions for your brand and analyze the impact to sales.
Understand impression counts, likes, comments and what is being said.
8. How can you leverage this space?
Share with your Wal-Mart/Sam’s business partners.
Share positive feedback/comments regarding your brand.
Share photo and video uploads.
Share information related to your advantages over competing brands (more social activity, more
likes, more fans, better sentiment ratio, more reach etc.).
Share specific promotional impact to sales.
Share information related to how much traffic your sites are driving to Wal-Mart/Sam’s sites.
9. How can you leverage this space?
Share with your Wal-Mart/Sam’s business partners.
Share information related to how much traffic your sites are driving to Wal-Mart/Sam’s sites.
Share improvements in search results for your brands on Wal-Mart.com.
Share information on who is talking about your brands, where they are talking about them, and when
they are talking about them to help influence feature/promotional activity and mod updates.
Share information on app downloads, usage, location of downloads etc.
10. MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILING
This space has evolved and these channels have become and integral part
of Wal-Mart’s business. You have an opportunity to grow here as well
through appropriate management in your brands. You can own this space
for your retail partner, be ahead of their expectations, and gain an
advantage over your competition.
