Save money, live better
is Walmart’s mission, regardless of our location around the world. But with
stores and clubs in 28 countries, it’s our responsibility to be sure we’re
solving for the specific needs and demands of customers in each individual
market.
For example, with population density in major metropolitan areas driving up the demand for online grocery, we often leverage our physical stores as pickup and delivery centers. And, last week, we took it one step further in Tokyo, opening our first-ever hybrid Seiyu store. This format was specifically designed to satisfy the digital and physical shopping needs of our Japanese customers.
With a traditional grocery store on the first floor, and an online grocery warehouse on the second floor, this new grocery store is uniquely positioned to cater to the masses. By having dedicated inventories for e-commerce, we can meet more online orders even for a store with a small footprint. In addition, it maximizes inventory turnovers, as we not only pick from online inventories on the second floor, but also select some items – such as produce and meat – from the physical store.
In response to our Japanese customers’ growing need to save time, we’ve also begun a pickup service using lockers. And we’ve started an “unattended” delivery service, where we leave ordered items at doorsteps so customers don’t need to wait for delivery. These are just a few examples of how we’re committed to developing new and better ways to meet the changing needs of our customers, regardless of where they call home.