25 July 2007

Web 2.0 and Wal-Mart?!?

Read article by clicking link: Advertising Age - At Last, the Reviews Are in: Wal-Mart Wakes Up to the Power of the People

From the article:
Wal-Mart is the largest bricks-and-mortar retailer by some stretch, but it has lagged a bit in the e-commerce race. In June it was the fifth-largest retail site based on unique visitors, trailing eBay, Amazon, Apple and its smaller, hipper bricks-and-mortar rival Target, according to ComScore. While Target's online lead is narrow, its site traffic is growing faster.



Wal-Mart tries social networking again. Last year, Wal-Mart failed spectacularly to connect with its customers. Using a fake blog set up by Edelman, fake bloggers, who were actually Wal-Mart employees, tried to make us feel warm and fuzzy about Wal-Mart.

I think this is a good move for Wal-Mart. It can only make the experience better. It is a bit sterile shopping in person at Wal-Mart, and the online experience is worse. Reviews and ratings, if they are REAL, are wonderful ways to create a feeling of community. Top lists and celebrity fave items, with reviews from real people will do a lot for Wal-Mart's goodwill.

Now, if they could just pay a living wage so their workers could afford insurance. That would make me a happy Wal-Mart customer.

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