Tag: walmart

Why Messaging App Tango Launched In-App Shop

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TechCrunch

Mobile messaging app Tango is taking a page out of WeChat’s playbook with the launch of an in-app commerce service called Tango Shop. Initially available in the US, Tango’s e-commerce platform is powered by two retail giants, Alibaba and Walmart.  The Tango shop features a wide variety of items that can be purchased without leaving the chat app. Payment and logistics are handled by the two retail partners.

Messaging apps have enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent years, emerging as a major platform in the mobile ecosystem. As of the third quarter of 2014, 616 million global users were using chat app and mobile instant messengers, spending 7.6 hours per month on them on average. Accordingly, mobile messaging commerce has been seeing some early success in Asia markets with LINE in Japan and WeChat in China, where it has become the de facto mobile Internet platform in China, particularly for retailers.

However, messaging app-based mobile commerce has yet to take off in the U.S., where the relatively high usage of iMessage and persisting popularity of SMS has made it harder to build a mainstream audience for chat apps. Still, if the recent success of Snapchat, with its relentless push towards original content, is any indication, messaging app-based mobile commerce could certainly take off in the U.S. market sooner rather than later.

Walmart Matches Price With Amazon To Combat Showrooming

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Gizmodo

The growing power of ecommerce is bleeding into brick-and-mortar retail. Walmart has reportedly informed managers of its roughly 5,000 stores across the US that they can match prices with Amazon.com and other online retailers.  As 21% of US respondents use a smartphone to research online in their purchase journey, according to Google’s consumer barometer, we expect more practices like this to be formalized in retail stores to combat the showrooming effect.

 

Walmart To Challenge Chromecast and Roku with Vudu

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: The Verge

Walmart is ready to compete with the likes of Chromecast and Roku in the increasingly saturated market of streaming dongles. The “Vudu Spark” will be launched this coming holiday season to help push Vudu—the Walmart-owned video streaming service—and Vudu only, into more living rooms. With such limited functionality, the massive retailer may need to set a competitive price to be a true contender.

 

Walmart Pilots QR-based eCommerce in Toronto Bus Shelters

Posted on by Lab Team

Drawing comparison’s to Tesco’s pilot program in the Seoul subway system, Walmart has launched 50 bus shelter ads in Toronto that are meant to drive eCommerce sales.

The ads are laid out like a store shelf with featured P&G products. Users can scan the QR codes for the products to add them to their mobile device basket, and then check out right on their phones. The items are then delivered to the user at home. A Walmart official is quoted as saying “This campaign allows us to help Torontonians shop for essentials on the go, anywhere, at any time.”

Walmart Doubles Down On Big Data

Posted on by Lab Team

This week Walmart acquired analytics startup Inkiru, adding to its portfolio of capabilities in their Walmart Labs arm. The move will enhance their predictive analytics capabilities so they can improve site personalization and marketing efforts. 

What makes this deal especially powerful is that Walmart has so much data to analyze, they serve as a great case study in the power of analytics.

Inkiru’s primary focus areas include New User Activation for e-Commerce, Credit Risk analysis and Customer Targeting.