With 20% lower delivery costs, is Walmart closing the fulfillment gap of Amazon? – Page 352

Today’s issue is a reminder that Amazon may be the current ecommerce king, but it’s not the only name roaring in the ecommerce arena. So, who else is upping their game to win the crown?

ECOMMERCE NEWS

Walmart is making waves in the world of ecommerce, and its latest move in delivery and fulfillment is a game changer. According to Retail Dive, the retailer slashed its store-to-home delivery costs by a whopping 20%! 💰

How did they do it?

Walmart’s EVP and CFO John David Rainey says this success is due to the increasing number of online shoppers flocking to Walmart. The company witnessed a 50% surge in sales from store-fulfilled deliveries in Q4 of 2023 alone, hitting a remarkable $2 billion in monthly sales.

By optimizing delivery routes and squeezing more packages into each trip, the company found a way to spread out the cost across multiple customers.

🚚 Walmart’s other strategic moves

Aside from increasing delivery volume, Walmart is implementing other tactics too, including:

Putting up parcel stations, which act as mini post offices within its stores. These help the packages get from Walmart’s warehouses to people’s homes quickly through independent contractors or third-party carriers.
Automation. The retailer installed its latest automation technology in some of its fulfillment centers to double capacity and throughput. According to Rainey, this makes the process more efficient and cost-effective.

🏃‍♂️ Can Walmart catch up to Amazon?

Well, it seems like this fierce rival is on the right track. With these clever moves, Walmart isn’t just closing in on Amazon in terms of delivery and fulfillment—it’s showing it can compete well in the ecommerce game, too.

TOGETHER WITH WALMART MARKETPLACE

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*Source: Walmart first-party data, 2021-22

**Conditions apply.

BITES OF THE WEEK

Ecommerce for Enthusiasts: eBay’s “Focus Categories” aim to provide shopping experiences tailored for enthusiasts (a.k.a. buyers).
Highest Ever: DYK U.S. ecommerce sales penetration hit 22.0% in 2023?
Dropped Esteem: Consumer confidence fell this February as concerns about the labor market grew.

HOT TOPIC

A TikTok-native brand sells 100,000 units per week

TikTok Shop has made it clear before that it’s not Amazon—and it’s not trying to be. It offers a content-first approach, which entices shoppers to buy a product through videos on their For You Page (FYP).

So, how is it that a TikTok Shop merchant can sell 1.2 million units on the platform? That’s almost the same as the sales of an established Amazon brand!

🛒 Well, Marketplace Pulse credited two things for this:

Seamless shopping experience: Customers simply need to tap “Shop” on the video to view and buy products. They don’t need to leave the app or go through a lengthy checkout process.
Viral videos. Take a TikTok-native brand GuruNanda Cocomint Pulling Oil for example. With almost 30,000 videos made by different content creators, the product became a hit and saw a ripple effect on other platforms.
- It now sells over 100,000 units per week, reaching a total of 1.2 million sales on TikTok.
- GuruNanda’s rise to fame spilled over to Amazon, where it became a bestseller in Health & Household.
- Searches for “guru nanda” and “oil pulling” also spiked on Google.

So, what makes selling on TikTok Shop different from Amazon?

It’s the unexpected joy of finding products you didn’t even know you needed. Not to mention the impact of viral videos and the platform’s focus on entertainment. ▶️

Still, there’s no exact formula for success on TikTok Shop. If you plan to sell on the platform, you need to create a lot of different videos until something clicks with the algorithm. That’s how you capture the essence of TikTok culture.

ACTIONABLE ADVICE

4 steps to optimize your business for voice shopping

Voice assistants, like Siri and Alexa, make online transactions more convenient. In fact, there’s a steady rise in the use of this tech, achieving a global transaction value of approximately $20B.

With new technologies like AI’s natural language processing, voice shopping is only bound toward more explosive growth. That’s why you need to tailor your business strategy to this new trend. 🎤

Here are SellerEngine’s tips to effectively adjust your Amazon selling strategy to voice shopping:

Understand why shoppers use voice assistants before creating strategies. This way, you can maximize their perks, such as their ease of use and greater convenience than text-based searches.
Optimize your listings for voice search.Voice searches tend to be long and specific. Plus, they return fewer results than text-based queries (for example, Alexa usually gives “Amazon Choice” answers).
- Tip: Integrate long-tail keywords into your listing and keep your product descriptions conversational, clear, and natural.
Collect statistics. Voice shoppers buy on the spot, trusting Alexa’s recommendations without extra research. Engaging them means knowing the nuances of price and customer intent.
- Tip: Collect demographic data and timing to pinpoint what shoppers were doing when they ordered.
Make it a unique, positive experience. Regardless of what assistant buyers use, your brand should be recognizable.
- Tip: Craft voice-enabled shopping strategies unique to your brand. This can include promotional campaigns and feedback collection tactics.

👂 Bonus tip: Stay updated

Voice commerce may evolve even further. So, keep your tech-savvy ears out to stay informed about the latest ecommerce trends to embrace.