HOW WAL-MART WILL SAVE CHRISTMAS
Autor: Misael Pantoja | Publicado: 2011-11-19T18:53:00-02:00

 
Retailers aren’t exactly expecting to hit it out of the park this week. Black Friday sales are expected to rise a paltry 1.6%, according to a survey of 100 executives in a survey by BDO USA. Last year, the same survey projected an increase of 3.8%.



Some of this, of course, is the economy. Consumers still shell-shocked from the recession have quite the range of issues to fret over, from the likely failure of&nbsp; the super committee to come up with&nbsp; a long-term budget plan to the fiscal debt issues in Europe to the high unemployment rate.



But then there is this: eMarketer is projecting that retail ecommerce holiday sales will rise 16.8% this year compared to last, reaching $46.7 billion. That is an eye-popping growth rate of nearly five times the overall retail industry.



Shopping Apps Aren’t Cutting It

Not that this disparity is a shocker to retailers. More and more consumers, it seems, can take or leave the in-store experience especially if lower prices and free shipping are part of the online equation.&nbsp; Shopping center owners have been bemoaning the erosion of their sales by e-commerce for years — and trying to compete as best they can with the fun, sexy apps that have become part of online shopping.



REITs likes Simon Properties, which owns a significant portion of the US’s shopping centers, have been rolling out apps and campaigns for years. Last year it&nbsp; launched a location-based campaign with&nbsp;coca-Cola&nbsp;on the SCVNGR’s game platform in ten of its malls. There were challenges for players to earn Coke rewards for such prizes as&nbsp;American Express&nbsp;gift cards and Coke-branded merchandise.

Retailers are also using daily deal services like Groupon for all they are worth, and that includes the malls. (Recently spotted on LivingSocial, a Black Friday VIP shopping trip for two at a local shopping center that included parking).



So what can Wal-Mart possibly bring to the table.? Wal-Mart, whose brand is all about low, low prices and whose actual brick-and-mortar big boxes are, shall we say, highly functional but not necessarily aesthetically pleasing. They don’t have, in other words, the ambiance of an&nbsp;Apple retail store where glitzy mobile applications and in-store shopping experiences are de rigueur.



The Facebook Factor and Other Initiatives

Don’t be deceived: This is Wal-Mart, after all, which if nothing else, understands retailing trends as intuitively today as its founder, Sam Walton did in his time. (That understanding apparently does not always extend to what is appropriate in personnel practices, but never mind).

It has just rolled out&nbsp; My Local Walmart, a partnership with Facebook to connect fans with local stores and local deals. In the first week, it scored 51,460 followers,&nbsp;according to Inside Facebook, making it one of the most popular of the week.



It has also launched a new iPhone app loaded with such features as a smart shopping list tool that allows people to speak their shopping list into their phone or create one by scanning a barcode or, via the old-fashioned way of typing in the list. The shopping list can also be shared by email and integrated with a new budgeting tool that has access to current product prices.



Wal-Mart also opened two pop-up stores in California shopping centers.&nbsp; They don’t actually sell anything – they are meant to lure people to the Wal-Mart e-commerce site. People browse the aisles and try out items, and then place their orders with the computers and tablets available in the store.



None of these initiatives, however, are going to save Christmas for brick-and-mortar retailers, not this year and not in subsequent years as e-commerce continues along its unstoppable growth path.



In-store Social Networks

An in-store social network, though, just might, especially one that is cleverly executed.

Wal-Mart is reportedly working on this via its&nbsp; @WalMartLabs, Internet Retailer reports.

As described by the publication it would work like this: shoppers woulduse their mobile phones to interact with other shoppers at the store at that moment.&nbsp; Wal-Mart envisions them asking questions and giving opinions on products and deals, in general building a community, albeit a temporary one of sorts.



Wal-Mart is quick to say the project is still in its experimental stages. But as it stands now, it holds fascinating possibilities, not just for Wal-Mart but all brick-and-mortar retailers. An instant social network would replicate that long-lost small town corner store community feeling for which a lot of people are still nostalgic. For Wal-Mart in particular, where loyal customers tend to visit a store on average three times a week, an in-store social network could cement loyalty even more.



Also imagine all those marketing Facebook campaigns – but in real life. Earlier this year, Snoop Dogg Fragrance had a Facebook campaign in which the price dropped as it garnered more Likes. Now picture something similar in Wal-Mart, or another retailer for that matter –&nbsp; under the right execution and circumstances, it could be like Black Friday in a box, able to be pulled out on demand.



Extraído do artigo de Erika Morphy jornalista&nbsp;que publica a mais de 20 anos sobre negócios, gestão, finanças escreve atualmente para Forbes.
Fonte: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikamorphy/2011/11/19/how-wal-mart-will-save-christmas-just-not-this-year/