In the current business atmosphere, companies face numerous challenges one of them being remaining relevant. One of the biggest hurdles faced involves sustaining or elevating a firm’s position in the market. With stiff competition in the market, companies have to remain relevant. Walmart, a Fortune 500 company, has experienced such challenges but the company has sustained its position. Part of Walmart’s success stems from its use of various techniques to appeal to consumers. Notably, clear communication regarding existing and potential products influences consumers’ buying behavior. However, a company that is invisible or rather employs an inefficient technique when communicating to and with consumers is likely to experience stunted growth. For a company such as Walmart, using an integrated marketing communications (IMC) approach has the potential to boost the company’s sales and brand position in the market. While the company is already using the IMC model, an evaluation of its effectiveness or lack thereof is recommended.
The IMC approach, although demanding in terms of cost and personnel, has been considered an effective technique when it comes to communications between a firm and its already existing as well as potential consumers. IMC entails maintaining a consistent message across various communication platforms such as social media, email, face-to-face interaction, among others (Geraghty & Conway, 2016). Putting Walmart into context, the company applies various communications models to ensure that it stays updated with consumer needs and trends. One of the tools that Walmart uses are social media accounts. Davenport, DalleMule and Lucker (2011) cited that Walmart uses social media technology called Kosmix. The idea is to join its digital strategy unit called @WalmartLabs focused on capitalizing on consumer SoMoLo (social, mobile, local) data when giving offers. One of the key features of the technology in question is that it allows the company to predict shoppers’ purchases based on their social media interests. In this regard, Walmart understands the need and importance of knowing its consumers. Morwitz (2012) discussed consumer buying behavior stating that “Given purchase intentions are correlated with but are imperfect measures of consumers’ subsequent purchase behavior, marketing managers need to know when best to rely on them and how best to use them” (p. 3). Thus, Walmart’s use of @WalmartLabs demonstrates the company’s intent to remain informed about consumers’ current and potential preferences. Hence, the idea is to remain informed and ahead with information which can help the company introduce new products that consumers were not aware they needed before.
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One other avenue which Walmart uses to communicate with its consumers is through face-to-face interaction. As a traditional marketing approach, face-to-face interaction is more likely to have “… a more visually appealing, nostalgic and more creditable aspect” (Geraghty & Conway, 2016). Therefore, basing on such an understanding, it becomes clear that traditional marketing techniques play a fundamental role in promoting realization of a company’s goals objectives. Ferguson (2017) cited that part of Walmart’s success bases on its use of traditional marketing techniques. Currently, Walmart uses personnel selling whereby sales personnel talk with consumers and persuade them to try new products. The presence of sales personnel at its different stores has had considerable impact on the company’s brand presence and awareness in the market. For instance, in 2018, Forbes cited Walmart as one of the most valuable brands which explains the company’s success, in part, in using face-to-face interaction as a communication channel. Thus, Walmart has been able to leverage the potential advantage of traditional marketing approaches which are included in the IMC model. For any business, maintaining first-hand contact with consumers plays a fundamental role in determining consumer buying behavior. Hence, as Ferguson (2017) stated, Walmart has been able to achieve that using sales personnel positioned at its stores.
Regardless of Walmart’s success using the two IMC techniques mentioned, the company has not been without challenges. Reed (2018) noted that Walmart is experiencing a major setback when it comes to ensuring that its consumers have a smooth online shopping experience. He stated that “ Recurring customer gripes about Walmart.com include unhappiness about faulty or slow product delivery and confusion over its return policies, according to a spot check of online customer complaints posted on ConsumerAffairs.com, which tracks reviews of many retail sites” (para. 4). That being the case, the company is facing stiff competition from other brands which have an established and effective online strategy. For Walmart to deal with the issues that consumers have cited regarding its online platform, the company should invest further in research such as through @WalmartLabs to acquire consumer information and predict their preferences. The change could also involve interacting with buyers via social media through surveys or other interactive models. They could be given shopping vouchers as an incentive to have them complete the surveys. Such a recommendation could help revamp Walmart’s online shopping platform hence promoting consumer satisfaction and loyalty.
Conclusion
While Walmart enjoys a high ranking among the world’s most valuable brands, competition is rather stiff. The use of various IMC techniques such as social media and face-to-face marketing have been part of the company’s success. However, such a challenge as having a less than impressive online platform might undermine the company’s image. Nevertheless, investing in research through its @WalmartLabs technology is likely to provide access to valuable consumer data which can be used in making strategic decisions. Therefore, there is a need for Walmart to invest further in the process of gathering and analyzing consumer information.
References
Davenport, T., DalleMule, L., & Lucker, J. (2014, October 28). Know What Your Customers Want Before They Do. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2011/12/know-what-your-customers-want-before-they-do
Forbes. (2018). The world’s most valuable brands|2018. Brand Rankings . Retrieved from https://www.rankingthebrands.com/The-Brand-Rankings.aspx?rankingID=334&year=1217
Ferguson, E. (2017, January 27). Walmart's Marketing Mix (4Ps) Analysis & Recommendations. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/walmart-marketing-mix-4ps-analysis-recommendations
Geraghty, G. & Conway, A. (2016). The study of traditional and non-traditional marketing communications: Target marketing in the events sector . Dublin Institute of Technology.
Morwitz, V. (2012). Consumers Purchase Intentions and their Behavior. Foundations and Trends in Marketing,7 (3), 181-230. doi:10.1561/1700000036
Reed, R. (2018, February 22). Walmart's online strategy isn't clicking yet. Here's how it plans to get its mojo back. Retrieved from https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/reed/ct-biz-walmart-ecommerce-stumble-amazon-robert-reed-0222-story.html
