Walmart is about to create a sensation among the consumers with star-studded online shopping events. This holiday season, Walmart is adding another tool to its arsenal to gather online sales. More than 30 live streaming events are to be held, including one with musician Jason Derulo that kicks off Cyber Week. Chief Marketing Officer William White commented that these shopping events can help to “shorten the distance between inspiration and purchase.”
It organized its first live stream last December and, for a long time, has tried out the shop-able events on various social media platforms. It also recruited influencers in hosting a spring beauty event on one of the most happening recent media platforms, TikTok. It featured celebrity chef Ree Drummond to discuss her Pioneer Woman line of cookware and more on Facebook. Altogether, it has had hosted 15 events so far.
In an interview with CNBC, Chief Marketing Officer William White disclosed that Walmart’s digital strategy is focusing mostly on live online shopping events: “If you think about the number of live streams that we’ll be doing, the number of social commerce partners that we have, we’re really building scale at this point”. He did not share sales numbers but hinted Walmart is gaining high conversion rates, watch times, social media followers with each event. And this strategy could help drive e-commerce sales for Walmart.
White declared that Walmart is focusing on a lot of other ways to boost the checkout experience. These are reducing the number of clicks it takes when someone sees an item they like during scrolling through a social media app. He said, “When people are in their social feeds and in the digital environments where they’re living, inspiration can strike at any moment. We want to make it frictionless for them to shop.”
The Walmart event in Derulo’s hosting is Twitter’s first shop-able Livestream. The approximately 30-minute show will start at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday and highlight gift items across categories, from apparel and seasonal decor to electronics. Walmart said this online shopping event would also include special surprise guests.