Walmart To Introduce No Register Needed Checkout And More Innovative Shopping Features
According to NBC News, the giant department and supermarket store that some love and others refuse to enter, otherwise known as Walmart, is soon to roll out a number of newer features in all of their stores; this will be done in an effort to compete with Amazon and Target for holiday shopping. One such feature hopes to streamline shopping for customers by including a program aimed at helping shoppers avoid checkout lines altogether, including self-checkout lanes.
This upcoming special feature will be titled “Check Out With Me” and was announced Monday. A Walmart spokesperson told NBC News that this new feature will also “not be limited to only one particular type of item,” meaning that anything from Ramen Noodles to holiday decor, or even a big screen television, is included in the “Check Out With Me” innovation.
The intent began with wishing to help customers at Walmart avoid the hassle of trying to purchase items such as Christmas trees through long and cumbersome checkout lanes. It will slowly roll out over the upcoming weeks as we inch toward the holidays. By Black Friday, every store is anticipated to participate in “Check Out With Me.”
Another important feature to hit all Walmart location is an enhanced store app that enables shoppers to locate any given item, right down to the exact shelf placement within a store aisle; thereby doing away with the need for seeking out employee help finding what one needs in such a massive shopping store and making the overall shopping experience much quicker and less frustrating to some.
Retail analysts are calling these new types of shopping features and programs a shipping war between Walmart, Target, and Amazon, cites NBC News. This comes in shortly after Walmart’s recent announcement that the company’s plans to offer free shipping for literally millions of items from $35 and up. More on that story can also be found in a prior news release from NBC News. The announcement from Walmart came in around the same time that Target announced new free two-day shipping offers. Meanwhile, Amazon is no stranger to the company’s Prime members receiving free one-day shipping with a minimum purchase of $35 or more.
Those same analysts are saying this is a smart move for all three retailers, as it is expected that more shoppers than ever before will be purchasing their holiday shopping items online this coming holiday season. In fact, the expected growth is listed currently at 20 percent, accounting for more than $120 billion, says NBC News.
