Stephen Quinn, chief marketing officer, Wal-Mart commented, “This allows us to make our stores relevant on a local level. This addresses our next-generation customers who are using a lot of social media. A national message is often not as relevant.
To get local information from their store, Wal-Mart customers can click on to www.facebook/Walmart and then will be able to “like” stores that are nearest to them. That will enable shoppers to see specific offers and new merchandise on their “My Local Wal-Mart” page.
He said that the initiative was in response to its Facebook fans’ requests to see more localized messages, from the latest new TVs and local produce to events like cooking demonstrations. “This is just scratching the surface. We are just getting started on a social media revolution.”
Taking the relationship further, Wal-Mart eventually wants to personalize offers for its Facebook fans, based on the type of products they ‘like’, he added.
The social network fans of Wal-Mart who sign up to the new page will get about two alerts a week from their local store. Alerts may be triggered by anything relevant like a high school foot ball game or the weather.
In the coming holiday shopping season, My Local Wal-Mart, will have a major role to play, especially on the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers line up for early deals.
For the convenience of shoppers, Wal-Mart will allow them to download maps of their local store from the My Local Wal-Mart page, showing them where a specific merchandise is placed in their store. Quinn said, “It is impossible to put out a generic mp. This allows us to put out store maps for each local store.”
Explaining that the partnership with Wal-Mart goes beyond a ‘simple local tab’, Carolyn Everson, vice-president of global marketing solutions said, “This is embedding the social media phenomenon into the core of the offering.” Everson noted that Wal-Mart had worked hard to engage its Facebook fans. She added that, currently, Facebook is not working with other retailers to develop this kind of localized approach because it does not have enough resources.
This partnership between Facebook and Wal-Mart is the first of its kind for a retailer and highlights how businesses are using the social network to develop a deeper relationship with its customers by responding to their demands quickly.
Retailers are increasingly trying to employ the reach of Facebook to drive customer counts and revenue. In 2010 April, Facebook allowed brands and retailers to use the ‘Like’ button on their websites, making it convenient to share and connect with friends. Everson said that brands are starting to see a measurable sales impact on products that are ‘liked’ on Facebook.
She said that more than 50 percent of active adults on Facebook follow a brand, and there are 100 million “likes” on pages every single day. On an average, Facebook users have an average of 130 to 150 friends, who are connected to 8,000 friends, she noted.
Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, has registered revenue declines in its stores, which have been functional for at least a year, for nine straight quarters and hopes that this venture will have a positive impact on its revenues.