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沃尔玛的电商巨头梦离不开实体店

沃尔玛的电商巨头梦离不开实体店

Lauren Barack 2011-12-05
现在,最需要沃尔玛的地方就是网络。目前,沃尔玛正在大力推动电子商务业务的发展,但要想成功,还得依托于它的实体店,而且注定还有很长的路要走。

    上周四,沃尔玛(Wal-Mart)亮出了吸引网购爱好者的最新武器Shopycat——使用这款社交应用软件,用户可为朋友、家人或Facebook上任何通过个人兴趣或其它背景联系起来的人挑选礼品。

    零售商之间在实体店销售领域的战争早已结束,沃尔玛轻松取胜。但在争夺电子商务市场的战役中,沃尔玛最大的对手可能就是它自己。目前,它正试图让旗下3,800家美国门店和几百万雇员同沃尔玛的网站Walmart.com并肩作战。虽然沃尔玛的方向是正确的——Shopycat的推出便是朝着这个方向迈出的最新一步,但是距离胜利还有很长的路要走。

    虽然网购市场销售额总体呈现激增态势,但沃尔玛的购物者并未大规模移师网络。德银证券(Deutsche Bank Securities)的数据显示,网购仅占沃尔玛销售额的2%,约80亿美元。相比之下,2011年亚马逊(Amazon)的营收较上年跃升40%,已经达到342亿美元。

    这就是为什么沃尔玛要重新定位,依托强大的实体店网络来拓展网络业务。消费者可以前往沃尔玛门店自取网上订单,将网络销售业绩归于门店团队,让他们成为数字销售力量,并使得从本地门店派送网上购买商品成为可能,这样就能在发货速度上打败亚马逊和其他网络零售商。这意味着网络应用软件和数字工具的集成,但同时也离不开实体店。

    “网络销售很有价值,实体店也很有价值,我们希望最终在这两个领域都能做到最好,”领导@WalmartLabs的沃基•哈里那亚安说,“而不只是其中某一个渠道。”

    说到沃尔玛的未来,大多数人都会想到哈里那亚安负责的@WalmartLabs。这块数字业务依托于4月份沃尔玛耗费3亿美元收购的社交广告公司Kosmix。目前,工程师们正在马不停蹄地开发类似Shopycat这样的社交购物应用软件,挖掘Facebook上的个人信息数据、做出礼物推荐。其次是一系列的社交应用软件,消费者藉此可以相互联系,也可以联系沃尔玛员工。当然,顾客身处沃尔玛实体店时也可以藉此寻找产品或寻求建议。

    但即便@WalmartLabs非常成功,单凭社交应用软件也不能使沃尔玛成为网购市场的强大竞争者。如果沃尔玛想在网购市场获胜,它获胜的根本应该是其实体店,而不仅仅只是拥有这些实体店。

    Wal-Mart launches its latest weapon today in the battle to win online shoppers -- Shopycat, a social app that makes gift selections for friends, family or anyone connected through Facebook based on their interests and profile.

    Certainly the war of the Big Box retailers is over and Wal-Mart won, hands down. But in the war for online sales, Wal-Mart's greatest adversary may be itself as it attempts to get its 3,800 U.S. stores and millions of employees working together with Walmart.com. Although the retailer is taking steps in the right direction -- Shopycat its latest -- it still has a long way to go.

    As online sales have soared overall, Wal-Mart (WMT) shoppers have failed to flock to the web in any sizeable number – online sales are estimated to account for just 2% of its revenue according to Deutsche Bank Securities, or about $8 billion. By comparison, Amazon's revenue leapt 40% in 2011 from the year prior to $34.2 billion.

    That's why Wal-Mart has a renewed focus on leveraging its massive bricks-and-mortar presence to re-invent itself online. That means pushing customers to pick up online orders at Wal-Mart's stores, crediting store teams with online sales to turn them into a digital sales force and potentially delivering items purchased online from the local Wal-Mart, hitting Amazon and other e-tailers on their speed of delivery. And it also means a hybrid of online apps and digital tools -- but only when they fold in with offline too.

    "There's a lot of value that we get online and a lot of value in the physical store, and at the end of the day we expect the best of both worlds," says Venky Harinarayan, who heads @WalmartLabs. "It's not going to be one channel."

    Harinarayan's division, @WalmartLabs, is what most people think about when they consider Wal-Mart's future. The Wonka-esque digital outpost launched from Wal-Mart's $300 million purchase of a social advertising hybrid Kosmix in April. There, engineers are busy churning out social shopping apps, such as Shopycat, which makes gift recommendations by data-mining Facebook profiles. Next up are a raft of social apps that will let customers connect with each other and to Wal-Mart staff, as well as find products or ideas when they are physically in a Wal-Mart store.

    But even if @WalmartLabs is wildly successful, social apps alone won't make Wal-Mart an online contender. If the retailer wants to win online, it will happen because -- and not in spite of -- its physical boxes.

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