Walmart rolls out its new store design to 6 stores
- Walmart is expanding its new store design it first tested last year in Arkansas.
- The big box store’s new design is focused on getting consumers to spend on discretionary items, such as home furnishings, apparel and products in beauty.
- The new design is rolling out to six stores by the end of February.
Walmart is expanding its new design it first tested last year to six more of its U.S. supercenters that the retailer hopes elevates its in-store shopping experience for customers.
The redesigns, first reported by CNBC, have already come to five stores, Walmart’s locations in Teterboro and North Bergen in New Jersey; Yaphank, New York; Quakertown, Pennsylvania; and Hodgkins, Illinois. Walmart is also in the process of renovating its store in Secaucus, New Jersey, which will open in February, according to the report.
The stores follow the same format the retailer debuted last year at a store in Springdale, Arkansas. Walmart in a release at the time described the redesigned store format as “Time Well Spent,” and it said the vision behind the revamp was to ensure that its shoppers enjoyed spending time at the store.
“In this next phase of our redesign, we’re amplifying the physical, human and digital design elements in our stores to inspire customers and elevate the experience,” said Alvis Washington, vice president of marketing store design, innovation and experience at Walmart, in a press release last year. “Physical elements include lighting, space enhancements, dynamic displays and more.”
Some of the changes detailed in the Jan. 2022 release include:
- Interactive displays in departments such as home, where shoppers can touch items, such as pillows and blankets, to decide if they want to take them home or order them online.
- Store-within-a-store shops, including Walmart’s owned apparel brands and other national brands.
- More space inside the store and more merchandising focused on optimized storytelling.
- Increased digital touchpoints, which include in-store QR codes that take in-store shoppers to Walmart’s e-commerce platform to find more options that might not be available in store.
“In today’s omnichannel world, customers still want to experience – touch, feel and try – items,” Washington said. “So, we’re now aiming to make customers feel wowed and proud when they shop with us. We’re using powerful design elements to show off amazing products that wow our customers, and when they see the value, they are proud of their choice and purchase.”
Walmart is the largest worldwide retailer by revenue, out earning brands like Amazon,, according to Deloitte. Walmart is the largest food and grocery retailer in the U.S. by revenue, selling more than four times the amount as Kroger in 2021, According to a 2022 survey from Progressive Grocer. The move to alter its in-store experiences comes, according to CNBC, as Walmart’s desires to amp up the competition with rivals like Target, especially as it courts higher-income consumers with more discretionary income. Products in categories like beauty often carry higher price tags and net the retailer higher profit than items in essential categories, such as grocery.
It’s not clear how many stores Walmart plans to renovate with the new design. Walmart operates more than 4,700 stores in the U.S., with more than 3,500 operating as a traditional Walmart Supercenter. According to the CNBC report, Walmart plans to offer more information about the rollout of the new design during its forthcoming earnings call at the end of February.