Wal-mart made the bold decision in 2004 to add Omniture’s SiteCatalyst hosted Web analytics service to study the relationship of merchandising to sales on its retail Web site (Internet Retailer.com, 2004). Set up to echo the physical organization of Wal-Mart stores, Walmart.com presents the same products in several different areas of the Web site, with some appearing in as many as a dozen categories. By collecting customer data, Wal-mart will have information it can use to position itself to better respond to customers and its direct competitors.
SiteCatalyst helps Wal-mart mine data in real time to quantify and visually reflect the effectiveness of its Web site and its marketing objectives. Wal-mart also uses SiteCatalyst to track data points such as historical site activity -- what happened on the site -- as well as actionable information -- what is happening on the site. Other custom features allow Wal-mart to identify site visitor behaviors and generate customized reports on such online activity, (Khan, 2004). SiteCatalyst also allows Wal-mart to pull data on the response to product placements on different areas of a page, for example, or view the effects of greater or lesser product exposure on the site (Internet Retailer.com, 2004).
Through the use of analytics, Wal-mart learned that roughly 130 million customers visit one of its stores or its Web site every week and it said 75 percent of those customers are active online (Reuters, 2007). Analytics also showed that users of Walmart.com’s free site-to-store shipping, often spend as much as $60 additional dollars once they go to the retail store to pick up the item ordered online (Reuters, 2007).
Despite such an obviously sales growth feature, the free shipping service is limited. Wal-mart’s online products top 1 million; however, the free shipping service is available only on some of those products. Products that are perishable, contain hazardous material, weigh 350 pounds or more, or are sold by a Wal-mart Marketplace Retailer, are never eligible for free site-to-store shipping (Wal-mart.com, 2010).
Wal-mart would not be the largest retailer in the world if it didn’t listen to some of what its customers said. However, I believe the company could further increase both its online and retail sales by expanding the site-to-store shipping program. I suspect many customers, like me, often abandon full shopping carts once they learn how high the shipping costs will be on some items. The site-to-store program is a feature that customers repeatedly say they want, a feature they use and a feature that analytics shows will lead to more spending. Isn’t that ultimately what any business wants?
Reference:
Chappell, B. (2008, February 6). 23 Top Online Retailers Analytic Packages Revealed. Brian Chappell.com. Retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://www.brianchappell.com/top-online-retailers-analytic-packages.
Khan, M.A. (2004, February 2). Wal-Mart Measures Factors in Web Sales. DMNews. Retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://www.dmnews.com/wal-mart-measures-factors-in-web-sales/article/83178.
Internet Retailer.com (2004, January 22). After Side-by-side Comparison, Walmart.com Picks Omniture Analytics. Retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://www.internetretailer.com/internet/marketing-conference/88090-after-side-by-side-comparison-walmartcom-picks-omniture-analytics.html.
Reuters (2007, July 19). Walmart.com to Let Customers Review Merchandise. ZDNet News. Retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-152582.html.
Walmart.com. Retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://www.walmart.com.
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