ROGERS -- An empty seafood case stopped Jane Ewing in her tracks during a recent Wal-Mart store visit.
Ewing, conducting a tour of the retailer's Pleasant Crossing location in Rogers, wanted a second to admire the newest, albeit minor, addition to a list of upgrades being incorporated into the showroom store.
"I never thought I'd get excited to see cases," Ewing, Wal-Mart U.S. senior vice president for business development, said to those who joined her on the tour. "These last few weeks have been quite intense."
New display cases, checkout stations that can be manned by employees or customers, updated graphics, lowered shelves to increase visibility and a fresh coat of paint are among the first major renovations to the location since 2008. Wal-Mart designates the fully functioning store as a destination for home office employees and out-of-town guests, similar to the way a real estate agent would use a model home.
Changes to the store are in various stages of testing with some of the tweaks destined for roll out in new store construction or renovation projects at Wal-Mart's more than 3,000 Supercenters across the U.S. Other tweaks might never see the inside of a store outside of this particular location, but they are being evaluated as Wal-Mart looks for ways to improve the shopping experience for current and potential customers.
"We've tried to really change the presentation," said Jay Mitchael, vice president for enterprise strategy at Wal-Mart U.S. "We want a much cleaner look that's easier for our customer to shop. We've lowered the profile of counters, taken all the clutter off them. We've used icons on signs to help with customer navigation. We've tried to freshen it all up."
Planning for the remodel began late in 2014. Representatives from teams throughout Wal-Mart were brought in to help with the project, which is scheduled for a public unveiling Oct. 14. The store has been operational throughout the renovations and is also getting a grocery pickup station that will open near the end of the month.
Ewing describes some of the adjustments as common sense. Strollers, for example, are now displayed on the floor instead of elevated on shelving, which made it harder for customers to touch and feel the merchandise.
Departments such as automotive and entertainment have been de-cluttered. Additional merchandise is stored where customers can't see it, making it easier for employees and shoppers to spot one another.
Displays directing shoppers online for additional merchandise also have been more heavily incorporated into the store. An updated version of Wal-Mart's scan and go has also been rolled out at the store.
Other changes include the addition of Wal-Mart radio to the store to entertain shoppers and workers. Wal-Mart also is adding a local BBQ restaurant in place of national chains that often populate its Supercenters. The store's deli and bakery areas have a restaurant feel as Wal-Mart investigates how to enter the growing "groceraunt" trend where made-to-order food is available during the shopping trip.
Multiple checkout options await customers at the end of their shopping trips. In addition to traditional registers, Wal-Mart has implemented a high-density checkout with double conveyor belts popular in some European markets and hybrid registers that, depending on store traffic, can be deployed either for cashiers to use or customers looking to self-check.
Testing these checkouts and other ideas at Pleasant Crossing makes sense for Wal-Mart because it sits less than 10 miles from the home office. Employees who have been part of a new design or layout idea can go to the store and see it being put into practice.
"It's a chance to experiment and learn and iterate and get feedback from not only customers, but associates in the store and in the home office," Ewing said. "There's lots of feedback. That's exactly why we do it here. So everybody can see the tests and the things that they're putting into place."
Improving the customer experience remains an important goal of Wal-Mart under CEO Doug McMillon and Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Greg Foran. Both executives, and others in the company, have talked about making the shopping experience more enjoyable for consumers.
Among the steps include adding labor back into stores and working to improve employee attitudes through raises and other initiatives. Now there are front-end changes being considered as Wal-Mart looks to regain its appeal with shoppers.
Any attempts to accelerate check-out times and de-clutter the stores will be appreciated by customers, said Carol Spieckerman, president of retail strategy firm Spieckerman Retail. Offering choices is important as customer trends become harder for retailers to define, Spieckerman said.
"Retailers have realized that customers define convenience in different ways and that even the same customer can have different preferences depending on how many items they are buying, the categories they are shopping and even the time of day," Spieckerman said. "Wal-Mart's flexible and efficient revamps are designed to resonate regardless. Wal-Mart is simultaneously retooling its in-store processes and design in order to pave the way for a more efficient site-to-store experience for its customers."
Updating the look of stores throughout the company is an important thing for retailers, Edward Jones retail analyst Brian Yarbrough said. Both K-Mart and Sears, Yarbrough said, failed to tweak the interiors of their stores for years and, along with other factors, they made the shopping experience less inviting for customers.
Wal-Mart is wisely looking for ways to modernize, but it must remain true to its core business, Yarbrough said. While innovations in e-commerce are a must for Wal-Mart, it must also make sure the in-store experience is a good one as a means of driving sales.
During the first quarter of its current fiscal year, the retailer reported a 1.1 percent increase in same-store sales. Revenue of $2.4 billion was up 3.5 percent from the same quarter a year ago and the retailer wants to improve that performance.
"They have to be trying something," Yarbrough said. "I would hope it helps, but it definitely can't hurt at this point. You want to see them testing and doing new things. Let's be honest, the results the last couple years have been pretty weak. Everybody gets caught up in e-commerce and growth there, and that's good, but that is not Wal-Mart's business. They're a retailer. The largest in the world. They have to get back to Retail 101."
Ewing and Mitchael stress that nothing at Pleasant Grove is guaranteed to find widespread incorporation. Tests in a single store are often rolled out into multistore trial runs before major decisions are made, even on something as seemingly simple as fresh exterior paint.
"Some initiatives are a quick read. Others take longer to evaluate," Ewing said. "It's all about keeping it simple. We're looking for the simple basics of merchandising. We want to redeploy our departments, thinking about how the customer shops. We're giving lots of choices. We'll figure out what works best."
SundayMonday Business on 10/04/2015