In today’s marketing world, convenience is king. As the digital world is taken over, it is impacted a lot of industries and businesses that couldn’t compete with the more convenient technological advantage. Look at Blockbuster and how it went out of business once Netflix found its way into the American home. Why go to the video store when you could stream thousands of movies and TV shows right from your couch?
Once Amazon became a staple, we found we can order everything that we want online, including some groceries. Ordering online has become so convenient, that saved us time and money from going to the physical store to buy gifts and other products. It looked as if Amazon can completely destroy the age of the department store at Sears and other major retailers have gone out of business.
In fact, Amazon was even giving Walmart a run for its money is the number one retailer in the country. But Walmart decided that it wasn’t going to accept defeat. They decided they were going to go back to the drawing board and find a way to out convenience Amazon. They revamped their website in a strategic way that brought them back into the fight.
Now, Walmart is leveraging their stores in a way that Amazon cannot. Walmart already has a network of stores in nearly every community in the country. If you do not find it convenient to walk into a Walmart and go grocery shopping, they’ll bring the groceries to you. The best part is, they’ll do everything for you.
Convenience Wins
Going grocery shopping can be so inconvenient. It takes time and energy to shop for an entire family. Most people would rather be doing something else with that time. But last Friday, Walmart announced that they would now be allowing customers to order their groceries online. Not only can they or their groceries online, but Walmart worker will literally drive to their home and deliver that food to their homes.
Not only will Walmart workers drive and deliver groceries, they will put your groceries away into your fridge and cabinet. Food and groceries make up approximately half of all of Walmart’s sales. By offering this service, they do something Amazon cannot do as they simply do not have the network to do it.
Walmart spent the last five months piloting this program in New Jersey to see if it would work. They now decided to expand it and to other cities across the country, like Pittsburgh and Kansas City. There is a small fee for making grocery deliveries, but it is unknown as of yet exactly how much we would have to pay for direct in-home delivery.
It gets even better. If you made a purchase from Walmart and need to make a return, you can leave that return on your counter in the Walmart employee will take it back to the store with them so that you can receive your refund. So, while the battle of convenience rages on, we all win!
