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You need groceries; there’s nothing in the house. But you don’t have time to walk up and down the aisles of the store pushing your cart as you make selections. Not a problem. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has an option for you, several, in fact.

In 2014, Wal-Mart first began testing online grocery pickups at its stores. Online grocery pickup is not the same as Wal-Mart’s “site to store” option when a customer orders a product online and then picks it up at a customer service desk in the store. With online grocery pickup, a customer does not even have to leave their vehicle.

With online grocery pickups, customers place their orders online and an employee pulls and packages the items for the customer. Employees are instructed to select produce and meats as if they were shopping for themselves or their own families.

When it is time for pickup, customers park in designated spots in the parking lot and employees bring them their orders and accept payment for the groceries. This service is now available at more than 750 Wal-Mart stores across the U.S.

Kroger Co. and Amazon offer similar online grocery ordering services. They both feature online ordering with an employee selecting the products and bringing the order to the car for pickup.

Wal-Mart is now taking the service a step further with a fully automated self-serving kiosk stationed in the parking lot of an existing store location in Oklahoma. The standalone building is 20-by-80 feet and can hold up to 30,000 products, including frozen and refrigerated items.

The ordering process is the same when using the new self-service kiosk. The pickup process is what sets this service apart. Instead of an employee bringing the groceries to the car, customers enter a special five-digit code, and the kiosk retrieves the bins from inside. Customers will have to load their own groceries into their vehicles.

The self-service grocery kiosk is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is currently no extra charge for using the service, but there is a purchase minimum of $30.

Wal-Mart’s Oklahoma location is a test for future options. They are looking for customer feedback before expanding more widely to additional locations. Wal-Mart is also exploring similar concepts in the U.K. and experimenting with vending machine-like “pickup towers” in several cities across the U.S. (Atlanta, Bentonville, Detroit, Houston, and Raleigh) for quick purchasing of non-food items.

1. Explain Wal-Mart’s competitive advantage over other stores that offer online grocery ordering services.

2. Explain how Wal-Mart could use comparative advertising to promote its new kiosk.

3. How could Wal-Mart develop advertising appeal for their new kiosk?

4. How could Wal-Mart use a loyalty marketing program to encourage customers to use the new service?

5. What are some ways Wal-Mart could use mobile and smartphone technology with their new self-service kiosks?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

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