Walmart
has been the superior super-store staple since the 1960s. It has dominated
consistently in sales and still does today, but Walmart is lacking to keep up
with modern day e-commerce and building a strong online presence. That’s why
Walmart has launched a new personalized shopping experience called Jetblack, a
concierge-style service.
Still
in its testing stages, Jetblack is an elite exclusive service. It is so
exclusive that you have to first get an invite from Walmart itself or existing
members. The service is currently limited to customers in Manhattan who must
live in a building with a doorman. Adhering to same-day delivery, Jetblack aims
to target mothers who are seeking “more efficient ways to shop for themselves
and their families”. Jetblack members can make requests ranging from
recommendations for make up, reordering baby food or curating custom Eater
baskets and having them delivered once the members kids are asleep. To fulfill
request Jetblack members are not limited to any on retailer, anything is fair
game. Jetblack co-founder and CEO Jenny Fleiss says, “Consumers are looking for
more efficient ways to shop for themselves and their families without having to
compromise the quality on product quality”.
Being that Jetblack is labor-intensive and there
are human agents it does lack efficiency that other e-commerce giants have, but
that is a gamble Walmart is willing to take. The goal for this start up is not
to make money, at least for now. Walmart’s goal is through the interactions the
agent has with the customer, the computer algorithm will be able to respond to
requests with machine efficiency but with a human-like tone.
This
isn’t the first time that having an automated text-based personalized service
with using human agents has failed. Facebook Inc. has to close down operation
“M. Operation “M” used AI software mixed with human interactions to make
recommendations or help with the purchase of an anniversary gift for a partner.
Alex Lebrun, former head of engineering for Facebook Artificial Intelligence
says, “I know a full cemetery of companies that have tried to do that and
failed”.
So,
what makes Jetblack different from any other chat bot concierge service that
has failed in the past? They didn’t have a colossal retailer like Walmart
behind them who has a distinguished supply chain infrastructure. Walmart will
need to emphasize on what differentiates them from markets already well acclimatized
with same day shipping to establish a substantial online presence. If Walmart
continues to be attentive to their customers’ economic needs of efficiency, convenience
and custom ability as Jetblack expands it could be the new substitute for
Amazon Prime.
I
chose this article because Walmart tends to be a store for lower class to
middle class consumers. Walmart seems to be a chain that will never fade away,
it just wouldn’t be right. Walmart’s’ situational analysis seemed to deem a
major threat and they needed to address it immediately. Thus, it was surprising
to see Walmart seek higher end consumers with their new start up company and
supply them with higher end brands to build a new clientele base that will be
the majority of their online presence if the start up takes flight.
By: Sarah Nassauer
Updated
March 21, 2019 11:23 a.m. ET
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