Central Community College From Omnichannel to Unified Commerce Article Discussion INITIAL POST – Use the Wall Street Journal menu link to find a recent art

Central Community College From Omnichannel to Unified Commerce Article Discussion INITIAL POST – Use the Wall Street Journal menu link to find a recent article related to branding or omnichannel marketing. Alternatively, your source may be any other business periodical (e.g., Forbes, BusinessWeek, The Economist) with an article that contains relevant information.

Provide a link or reference to the article. Then respond to the prompts below:

Briefly summarize the key ideas discussed in the article
Do your own experiences as a customer reinforce or challenge the ideas in the article?
How do the ideas from this article apply to your company or workplace?
Is the challenge of brand alignment across channels covered in this article?
If so, describe how it is discussed and explain its relevance
If not, should it have been included in the discussion? Why or why not?

PART A – PLEASE RESPOND TO CLASSMATE DISCUSSION WHETHER YOU AGREE OR NOT & A DETAILED WHY: Provide a link or reference to the article. Then respond to the prompts below:

Briefly summarize the key ideas discussed in the article
I chose the article “Walmart’s U.S. Boss Expects Coronavirus to Alter Shopping Permanently” from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). In this article, the WSJ interviews the current CEO of U.S. operations, John Furner. The interviewer asks Mr. Furner about how the current world pandemic has changed online shopping at Walmart. It discusses the shift in focus taken by Walmart to adapt to the pandemic, keep its employees safe and employed. The article touches on the merger of Walmart’s applications to improve customer satisfaction.

Do your own experiences as a customer reinforce or challenge the ideas in the article?
Living in rural northeast Kansas, Walmart is our primary source of groceries. I have used their “ship to store” with orders placed online. Unfortunately, it has not been a pleasant experience at the local location. I have used same day pick up and ship to store options at larger stores in bigger metropolitan areas, and it was straightforward and convenient. Currently, our local Walmart does not offer grocery delivery, curbside pick-up, or any of the other conveniences discussed in this article. I do have the Walmart App downloaded on my phone, compare prices to Amazon (I am an Amazon Prime Member), and keep checking for grocery pickup service at my local location.
How do the ideas from this article apply to your company or workplace?
Hiawatha Community Hospital is at a great juncture where it can streamline its online presence, modernize, and create its new marketing strategy. We have an opportunity to create our omnichannel marketing. Currently, our platforms are not untied, our website is clunky, and overall it cannot drive customers to our facility.

Mr. Furner discussed how he brought the online and off-lines teams together and are focusing on one business versus separate businesses. HCH can create an online presence that mirrors that of the actual visit with the doctor. Online marketing can be warm, welcoming, and personable by using actual patient testimonials and its providers to reach new patients.
Is the challenge of brand alignment across channels covered in this article? No, the challenge of brand alignment across channels was not covered in this particular article. Mr. Furner does state, ” It’s really the nature of being an omnichannel retailer that has helped Walmart in the last few months.” (1) The focus at Walmart has been on delivering goods to its customers in the most efficient and safe way for its customers and employees.

PART B – PLEASE RESPOND TO CLASSMATE DISCUSSION WHETHER YOU AGREE OR NOT & A DETAILED WHY: Briefly summarize the key ideas discussed in the article

Walmart is positioned as an omnichannel retailer. They have been focusing on Mobile and eCommerce for a while. They even acquired Jet.com as a way to compete with Amazon.

For the U.S. Retailer, foot traffic fell in the quarter, but spending per transaction increased by 16.5%, also the E-commerce sales went up 74% as a lot of customers moved from showrooming to webrooming by ordering online for home delivery or picking up groceries (ordered online) in the company’s designated locations country-wide.

Walmart was quick to respond to the significant change presented by the pandemic in remapping some of the possible touchpoints that the consumer will use to get to the purchase decision. Using their physical stores to fulfill online orders was a significant competitive advantage brought by the change in consumer behavior in that most of their competition could not do that.

Over the quarter, Walmart has invested more to operate due to this pandemic, by disinfecting stores, giving out bonuses and higher pay to store and warehouse workers, and hiring more workers since mid-March due to the change in business model.

Walmart also made significant changes in its e-commerce strategy over the past year, reducing its spending for small websites it acquired recently so as to focus on building up walmart.com. They have focused on adding third-party sellers to walmart.com, delivering online orders from stores, and adding online grocery service to many stores. The strategic changes have strengthened their focus on Mobile Commerce for this “Now” economy which has been accelerated by the pandemic.

Do your own experiences as a customer reinforce or challenge the ideas in the article? Yes. Walmart has been able to put in processes and build infrastructure that helped to navigate customer behavior successfully between showrooming and webrooming without affecting the brand as reflected by the jump in sales.

As a customer, my touchpoints may change depending on my circumstances but I still demand speed of delivery and convenience. Even though I cannot visit physical stores as conveniently as I did before, my online experience should mirror the touchpoints that can give me a good brand experience till I get to a purchase decision.

How do the ideas from this article apply to your company or workplace? All the digital channels in my company (a Mobile Operator) had been created before the pandemic. Still, these channels had never been stress-tested for effectiveness and checked for gaps in the value chain. The pandemic accelerated the activation of all the touchpoints that give a meaningful digital experience for our Mobile Subscribers. Showrooming worked for us, but with the sudden decrease in footfall across all our physical stores. The sales and marketing teams have been ramping up activities to ensure that the digital channels can share the same experience with the company brand in terms of purchasing our Airtime, Voice, and Data products and subscriptions.

Is the challenge of brand alignment across channels covered in this article? Brand Alignment is the critical success-factor for Walmart to cater for all the possible combinations of touchpoints that customers may go through in their path to purchase. Marketers need to guide customers every step of the way through physical and online channels. They also need to be available wherever and whenever customers decide to make a purchase across their path.

Walmart had to revisit their business model and pivot. As a big brand with a consumer-facing business model, they needed to align the brand to engage with consumers stuck at home and those returning to a changed work and shopping environment. The pandemic has accelerated changes that many companies were going through in terms of going from physical to online retail channels.

Brand Alignment is essential because Walmart reported that the number of new customers trying its online grocery pickup and delivery services grew fourfold since mid-March. Brand Alignment also means they can successfully guide their customers through different channels with the same Branding Experience.

Walmart finance chief Brett Biggs believes that the consumers have old habits that they will go back to. Still, they will remember the Walmart brand for navigating them through the different touchpoints that made the webrooming as comparable as possible to the showrooming that they were used to.