Data & Analytics

Walmart recently announced that, starting April 19, it would order a discount on select items that are ordered online and then picked up in the store. Here is commentary on what the new initiative means for Walmart in terms of last-mile delivery as well as its competitors.  

A new survey confirms what many retailers are already living: getting up to speed with digitally speaking is a priority.   The most in-demand new technology for retailers is mobile payment capabilities (65%), followed by self-checkout (49%), scan as you shop (44%), click and collect (41%) and in-store customer analytics (37%), according to research from Zynstra, a U.K.-based enterprise-grade IT software provider, which polled 300 IT managers and c-level professionals in the retail space across the U.S. and U.K.  

A messaging app launched a new lens that could help drive shoppers through retailers’ doors.   Snapchat’s Snap to Store product is a geofilter that retailers can sponsor.    When Snapchatters use the retailer-specific overlay on their snaps and share it in their story, Snap analyzes who sees those branded snaps and tracks whether users — or their followers — visit the store, according to New York Business Journal.  

The struggles of brick-and-mortar retailers have dominated industry headlines over the past few months with an unprecedented number of store closings announced. However, while the bad news has come from all corners, specialty retailers as well as general merchandisers, it has been department stores that have perhaps attracted the most headlines.  

A social media player is getting in on the robot delivery game.    Through a partnership between Yelp and robot delivery startup Marble, customers in San Francisco’s Mission and Potrero Hill neighborhoods will soon receive their Yelp Eat 24 deliveries via rovers, according to ReCode.   When a customer places an order, they may receive a notification with the chance to opt-in for a robot delivery.   

Walmart has fired another shot at Amazon.   In a move that leverages the retail giant’s vast store and delivery networks and expanding online capabilities, Walmart, starting April 19, will begin offering a discount on merchandise that customers buy online and have shipped to a Walmart store for pick-up. Walmart’s new Pickup Discount program will initially be available only on about 10,000 items, but will be expanded to more than one million of the chain’s most popular items by the end of June.   

Toys “R” Us reported declines in same-store sales for its fourth quarter and full year amid a highly competitive environment.   

Some of the biggest names in retailing and foodservice used experiences to encourage a high percentage buyers to visit at least once last year.   Specifically, Walmart, McDonald’s and Target had more than five out of six U.S. consumers shopping with them in 2016, according to “The Checkout Penetration Index,” from The NPD Group’s Checkout Tracking.