As the holiday shopping period becomes more intense, Walmart is preparing deals, special benefits for its Walmart+ members and enhancements delivered in part through supply chain upgrades.
Walmart’s Black Friday Deals return for 2023, with the event giving customers value with its best savings of the holiday season throughout November, the company detailed. Walmart has set two Black Friday Deals events and wraps up its promotions for the period with a Cyber Monday event. An Early Access access element will allow Walmart+ members to shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday events three hours earlier than scheduled.
The first Black Friday Deals event kicks off online on Wednesday, November 8 at 3 p.m. Eastern time and continues in stores through Friday, November 10. The second event begins online on Wednesday, November 22 at 3 p.m. Eastern time and continues in stores through Friday, November 24. On Cyber Monday, November 27, Walmart will wrap up the month with a set of new deals.
During the events, shoppers will find the season’s best deals on gifts from top brands such as Apple, Dyson, LEGO, LG and Samsung, among others, across store departments from home to electronics to toys, Walmart reported.
Deals from the company’s first Black Friday event include:
- Dyson V12 Slim Absolute Cordless Vacuum for $449.99, a $200 savings
- Ninja Professional Blender, a special buy for $50
- Apple Watch Series 9, 41mm, GPS for $329, a $70 savings
- Samsung 65-inch Class UHD Roku TV, a special buy at $398
- Barbie Playset for $12.97, a $9 savings
Walmart is adding enhancements to help consumers find and purchase the deals it’s offering for the holiday season. For example, holiday “hearting,” which gives members and customers shopping on Walmart.com or the Walmart app a chance to save their favorite deals by “hearting” items to create a personalized list dubbed My Saved Deals automatically. Customers can then use the heart functionality to track deals and get notifications as they become available. Walmart is also offering a holiday wish list and toy registry that will let customers create their own product lists, shareable with loved ones and designed to include seasonal help with everything from gift ideas to holiday décor. Walmart is also providing what it calls top-tier convenience, an innovation resulting from its next-generation supply chain, which will enable the company to deliver more of this holiday season’s top food, toys and gifts, as well as additional convenient delivery options, and increased availability of next- and two-day shipping, the company asserted.
A corporate blog post from senior executives for Walmart’s supply chain, delivery and fulfillment pointed out that Walmart has been investing significantly in cutting-edge technology to get customers what they want and when they want it, no matter how they shop. The company’s next-generation supply chain, combined with employee contributions, will enable Walmart to deliver on the promise of more convenient same-day delivery options, better next-day and two-day shipping availability and greater accuracy in getting consumers their purchases, the executives maintained in the blog post.
Earlier this year, Walmart began offering on-demand slots for same-day delivery, letting customers choose a time that best suits their schedules. Not only that, but this holiday season, Walmart customers can select Express Delivery and receive items in as soon as 30 minutes, as well as Late Night Delivery services until 10:30 p.m. across 4,000 stores. By maximizing the use of and leveraging the company stores, the executives declared in the blog post, Walmart can offer something no other retailer can: same-day delivery to more than 80% of the population across the United States. The company today can reach almost 90% of the U.S. customers next- or two-day shipping, including marketplace items shipped by Walmart Fulfillment Services. The Walmart executives characterized the 2023 holiday season as a special milestone for the company, as Walmart’s three new next-generation fulfillment centers in Joliet, IL, McCordsville, IN, and Lancaster, Texas, are now up and running.
Walmart has also taken steps to ensure product availability and order accuracy by investing in an AI-powered inventory management system that positions products according to customer demand, the bloggers indicated. The company is rapidly expanding the use of next-generation technology in its distribution centers generally. This year, more than 15% of Walmart stores will receive merchandise from automated distribution centers, helping to get items off trucks and onto the sales floor faster and more efficiently. The automated DCs play a pivotal role in stocking stores while making it easier for employees to unload trucks with department-ready pallets that can move directly to the sales floor, accelerating the stocking process, according to the bloggers. Walmart will also have seven of what the company calls automated market fulfillment centers up and running by Thanksgiving, they added. Strategically located within stores, market fulfillment centers stock thousands of high-demand items. The inventory within these centers is distinct from the items available on the store sales floor; it is set up to fulfill pickup and delivery orders in an approach that ensures heightened accuracy and minimizes the need for substitutions.
