Did you know that Walmart will be launching a new Pro Tools shopping experience?
I spent some time chatting with them to learn about what this means, and will share some of that with you here, and in a followup post.
ToolGuyd also recently joined Walmart’s affiliate program, meaning that if you buy something through a special link, we’ll earn a small commission. We have similar arrangements with other retailers, but this one is a little different. I have a direct line of communication with the folks who have been planning and building the new Walmart Pro Tools shopping experience, learning more about the why and how, but I have also been dropping hints about what I’d like to see it grow into over time.
Some emphasis is called for – this will be a Walmart.com Pro Tool shopping experience, and not one that will come to stores. (Yet?)
One thing has me more excited than all the others, and it’s that Walmart is basically targeting customers like me, you, and others like us – those that make careful decisions about the tools they buy and use, valuing quality, features, and capabilities.
This will be a curated shopping portal of sorts, without a lot of the unrelated chaos that now inhabits some other online marketplaces and storefronts.
After talking to some of the tool department folks that are leading the charge, I am both convinced and optimistic that Walmart.com is serious about this endeavor. They want to earn our business, and not with quick tricks or gimmicks.
Why should I buy my tools from the Walmart.com Pro Tools store? When I asked this, the answers surprised me, and I found that, as a somewhat infrequent Walmart.com shopper, I missed some changes that were made to the regular Walmart.com shopping and return experience.
I was told that returning online orders in-store has been made easier and quicker. My last return (at least over a year ago) took some time, but Walmart has been working on hastening that experience.
There will also be pickup discounts, where you can elect to pick up your order at the local Walmart via a ship-to-store option. That could potentially be a big deal.
I have hopes and ideas about how Walmart.com could be MY ideal tool shopping destination, and I’m not shy about sharing these ideas with the Walmart.com tool department team. Part of that comes from disappointments with other once-favored new tool sources.
That adds to why I’m so excited about the new “store” launch – because my tool department contacts are open and listening to feedback and ideas. They’ve been working hard to prepare for this new launch, and as I understand it, they plan to push forward with continual developments.
At the risk of being repetitive, it looks to me that they want to be be taken seriously by discerning (and at times demanding) tool users and buyers like us, and that can only work to our benefit.
So, knowing that Walmart.com wants their Pro Tools shopping destination to appeal to folks like us, who are perhaps more demanding and diligent about shopping for and buying new tools, what would you like to see them do?
What could or should Walmart.com do, for their Pro Tools site-within-a-site do earn your favor?
Or, another way of putting it – what kind of modern-day online retailer behaviors do you want to see them avoid?
Me? I’d like to see Walmart’s Pro Tools team add more less-well-known hand tool brands, perhaps boosting the presence of American and European-made offerings in the process. Having the Pro Tools section be a curated (or filtered) experience is a big plus in my book. I’ve grown tired of having to sort through 3rd party listings and off-branded products, sometimes even when I search using an exact model number.
There will be more to say once the Walmart.com Pro Tools experience launches.
