Wal-Mart's Subscription Service Signals More Focus On Digital Sales

Wal-Mart recently announced that it will be piloting an e-commerce subscription service to rival that of Amazon's Prime membership.  Wal-Mart plans on charging 50 dollars to deliver anything from their online store within three days.  This comes in much lower than Amazon's similar service and looks to take a bite out of Amazon's share of online sales.  With 13 billion in e-commerce sales just last year Wal-Mart is looking to pump some growth into their digital sales and augment their order online and pick up in store service.

For me this is another sign that major retailers are starting to shift their focus to better fit what their customers - want and we have spoken.  Today's millennials have grown accustomed to ordering online, and with the cost of gas and other expenses associated with going out to a store - who can blame them.    According to the US Census Bureau e-commerce sales have grown over 5% since 2005 and continue to grow exponentially. 

For the digital marketer this shift by large retailers to focus on e-commerce sales signals increased job security as companies will began to look for professionals with knowledge of the digital space to help them position themselves to work with large retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon or to market their wares directly to consumers who are increasingly looking for digital solutions for their everyday needs. 

Rich Media Content: Retailers Move Away From Text

So there I was with a 25-page white-paper marked "Confidential," straining to read the 10 point font as I was reading the lengthy document explaining the guidelines to publishing enhanced content to vender pages on a very large online retailer's .com  Words like "rich media box," and "expanded manufacturer content," have replaced the traditional "description," and "specs," that used to rule online retailers vendor pages. 

In my recent work with big box retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target, I have really seen how these big box retailers have begun to embrace the idea that video and other forms of rich media do a better job of explaining what a product is and thus selling it.  In fact, in the document I was reading, most of the text that was recommended was aimed at giving the customer "additional detailed information,' about the product - so basically, anything that video or images can't quite capture. In addition to this most of the content has moved lower, and lower, below the rich media content as if it is an afterthought - and it very well may be.  Check out these product pages here and here to get an idea of what I am talking about. 

If the largest retailer in the world is publishing white pages explaining the value of rich media content to its vendors says a lot about the trend in digital marketing away from text and towards valuable visual content.  As a marketer - this means a lot more interfacing with graphic designers and planners to better shape digital assets to meet the needs of not only the retailers but the digital consumer base that is increasingly demanding rich media content over text.