If you do business with Walmart – or are a retailer competing against them – there’s a new tool the world’s largest retailer is beta-testing with its vendors designed to provide them with insights designed to help them understand consumers better.
Last month the giant retailer rolled out its Walmart Luminate package of data analytics tools that for the first time allow suppliers to track online shopper behavior before a purchase. Previously vendors had access to analytics after a purchase, so this represents a substantial step-up in capabilities Walmart is sharing with its suppliers.
Walmart says that with this new tool its vendors can learn where customers start their purchasing process, when they find a product, how that product compares to others in the category and how the shopper decides to make the actual purchase. The software tracks online searches on Walmart’s on site, on external search engines and even social media platforms.
Walmart Luminate was launched in 2021 and is since in the process of being expanded to the retailer’s international locations in Mexico and Canada. It expects the full roll-out to its vendors later this summer following the beta test period.