Walmart’s app merge to combine the Online Grocery app (orange) with the Walmart.com (blue) app to increase the omnichannel experience for customers and simplify shopping platforms is complete. Along with the merge, Online Grocery has been rebranded to “Pickup & Delivery” to expand the scope beyond Grocery. Both Walmart.com and Pickup & Delivery will be available on the blue app with an option to choose where you want to shop – the shopping experience will continue to be very similar.
Harvest Group has received several questions from brand partners interested in how the merge will impact their business. Overall, it shouldn’t change the way you’re doing business, but it could potentially increase traffic to pages, as users of one platform more easily visit the others. The major takeaway? Be sure your items stand out from the content and discoverability perspective. Staying up to date on item page content health is key! If you’re unsure on how to successfully do this on your own, or if you want a health check to see if your current strategy is working, email our content experts at hello@harvestgroup.com.
Will Walmart’s app merge have any impact on fulfillment?
Fulfillment patterns will remain the same as they have been. Walmart has been increasing the amount of stores they ship from to fulfill “ship to home” Walmart.com orders, but that is not specifically related to this move.
How will this impact WMG and OG sponsored campaign spends? Will those be condensed?
To date, we have not received any direction that this will change with Walmart’s app merge. Anything you’ve set up for Walmart.com will be served via the Walmart.com portion of the app, and likewise for Pickup and Delivery (formerly OG). There is no implicit cross-over or condensing that we’ve heard of.
Will anything about the online (non-app) experience change?
Yes, the online experience is adopting a similar style. There is a toggle up top that will allow you to move back and forth between the traditional “Walmart.com” and pickup and delivery, but the Pickup and Delivery site has had a revamp to look more like the traditional Walmart.com
How do you anticipate this switch to impact sales?
PRO: you get more customers on each platform as moving from one platform to the other is quite a bit easier. This could, in theory, increase sales on either/both platforms.
CON: the “orange app” or Pickup & Delivery experience is changing slightly. They have shifted the feel of P&D more toward their Walmart.com look and feel, which could throw consumers off at first.
NET: We feel positive about the integration, the benefits outweigh the potential risks, and although we’re not really expecting major changes to how brands interact with Walmart, we are seeing brands investing in digital at Walmart (both on Walmart.com and Pickup & Delivery) to be winning versus their competition.
