Walmart.ca nabs award for groundbreaking consumer responsiveness

Walmart continues accelerating its e-commerce strategy with Walmart Canada's online store, walmart.ca, and now has an award to show for its efforts.



The website has won the Retail council of Canada Excellence in e-commerce award for providing groundbreaking customer responsiveness. The award was presented this week at the by the Retail Council of Canada at its 2014 Store Conference and recognizes walmart.ca as the first fully, responsively designed e-commerce site offered by a major Canadian retailer.



According to Simon Rodrigue, Walmart Canada's VP and gm for e-commerce, the new walmart.ca uses best-in-class technology to provide customers with a completely seamless shopping experience across all devices, from smartphones and tablets to traditional desktops and laptop computers.



"Today's connected consumers demand an easily accessible and highly relevant shopping experience, anytime, anywhere, across any device." said Rodrigue. "Our solution was to provide an experience that bridges the gap between the online, in-store and on-the-go-shopping experience. The newly designed site is the result of a global collaboration between Walmart Canada's e-commerce team, Walmart's Global e-commerce team, and global design and technology consultancy, Nurun."



According to Rick Neuman, director of site experience for Walmart Canada, the new site has surpassed expectations in growing Walmart's online customer base, improving customer satisfaction with the online shopping experience, and driving increased operational efficiencies.



"Walmart.ca drove a customer conversion rate of more than 20 percent in the first four weeks after the launch," said Neuman. "Since going live in October the site has also seen a 98% increase in mobile orders, a 36 percent decrease in average page load times, and a three point lift in customer satisfaction."



Additional features of the new walmart.ca include:

• Integrated inventory systems that allow shoppers to see up-to-the-moment product availability and pricing, both online and at their four nearest bricks and mortar Walmart stores.


• Auto-localization technology that helps shoppers easily find information about their local (or preferred) store, including local store hours, flyers and pricing.


• To reassure customers there will be no hidden costs or surprises at checkout, estimated taxes, shipping costs and delivery dates are calculated and displayed to customers within a push-down shopping cart.


• A unified cart and checkout that provides registered walmart.ca shoppers with the ability to start a purchase on their desktops and later complete their transactions on a mobile or tablet device, saving time and reducing cart abandonment.


• A distraction free, single-screen checkout experience designed with touch devices in mind and improves conversion for tablet and mobile shoppers. Smart address auto-complete and postal code detection eliminates the time-consuming need for customers to enter all shipping information.