How close are customers to being able to text Walmart their shopping list? Walmart’s Store No8 and the company’s Global Tech team are currently testing a beta experience – Walmart Text to Shop – with customers in select areas, according to Dominique Essig, VP of conversational commerce at Store No8.
“We’re learning a lot about when and how customers prefer a conversational experience, and we look forward to making this more widely available in the future,” she said.
While Walmart has offered voice shopping for years, text shopping is just getting warmed up, Essig said.
In addition to helping busy families with this simple solution, a key benefit of this new service is that it’s personalized just for them.
“By understanding customers’ preferences, we also solve the paradox of choice and save them time by serving up what we know they love best. Most importantly, we offer Walmart customers the opportunity to shop no matter where they are and to communicate naturally by simply asking for what they want, any way they want,” Essig said.
The advantage of conversational commerce is that customers can communicate with Walmart the way they talk with their friends and family. There is no need to learn how to use a new platform.
“Let’s face it, we’ll never stop trying to do a million things at once. Our hope is that conversational commerce can help ease the stress of the never-ending to-do list,” Essig said.
Store No8 is the incubation arm of Walmart. Part of Walmart’s overall innovation strategy, Store No8 pursues opportunities where the company believes the market is going and focuses on concepts outside of Walmart’s near-term roadmap. To learn more, visit the Store No8 website.
