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Did You Know Walmart Own a Chinese eGrocer with Virtual Stores?

Did you know that Walmart owns an eGrocer in China that is at the forefront of developing virtual stores?


Neither did we, until accidentally stumbling across the news last week.


Walmart owns 51% of a company called Yihaodian, which means "No. 1 Store." The company had sales of some $2.3 billion in 2014, up some 21% in China's massive eCommerce market.


A recent report from DHL on "augmented realty" (AR) applications in logistics says Yihaodian is getting ready to open up a series of virtual supermarkets that will be located in "blank" public spaces (e.g., train or subway stations, parks, and college campuses).

"While the naked eye will just see empty floors and walls, people using an AR-capable device will see a complete supermarket, with shelves filled with digital representations of real-world products. To buy products, the user just scans each product with their mobile device, adding it to their online shopping cart. After completing their AR shopping tour, the user receives delivery of the products to their home," DHL says.

See image below: 

 

 

Walmart also owns Seiyu GK, a Japanese brick and mortar grocer that is now also expanding rapidly into eCommerce, with a focus on home delivery to the sprawling Tokyo market.


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eCommerce and Brick and Mortar Synergies

Writing in on the RetailWire web site, analyst Nikki Baird of RSR Research says that "omnichannel retailing may hold the key to making existing stores more productive." She cited the following possibilities:

 

Store as physical touch point for online order pick-up and returns: A lot of retailers are doing this today, and even more are looking to do it in the future. The right balance has to be struck between ensuring that the store gets a shot at the incremental trip vs. annoying a customer by forcing them to trudge through the entire store to get their online order.

Store as local DC: Some etailers are pushing back against landlord's rent hikes, saying, "You're not driving traffic to my location." If people don't come, then why should the retailer pay more? Well, it may be that retailers need to bring the products to where the traffic is - the home. If stores are considered more holistically as part of a supply network, it will enable the retailer to drive more overall customer value by being faster and more responsive to local shopper needs.

Store as call center: Store associates can gain a lot more interaction time with customers if they sometimes fill call center roles, which also helps them get better at customer service. Associates can also connect local callers to local resources. This is an invaluable way of building local relationships - relationships that translate into a greater willingness to come to the store to meet that helpful associate in person.

Store as customer service center: REI offers bicycle repair services and Best Buy provides the Geek Squad. Baird believes every retailer can come up with services to accompany their products. Executing on this is not easy, she says, but if you want to drive additional value out of existing stores, services are a great way to drive repeat visits as well as build that local relationship with the local consumer.

Baird adds that "The traditional brick & mortar way of thinking - "Marketing must drive traffic to my stores" - may have to be retired. Stores asking, "How do I utilize my store location more in order to drive sales?" have an opportunity to differentiate themselves. "Selling stuff" will always be the primary objective of a store, but how that store achieves that objective - omnichannel is changing that."


Chance to Tour an Amazon Fulfillment Center

Somewhat quietly, Amazon.com has recently launched a program that allows the public to receive a tour of an Amazon.com fulfillment center (FC).

 

It appears to actually be a global program, but in the US there are six FCs that are open for tours. They are location in:

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