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Behind the Scenes of Walmart+ With Walmart SVP Venessa Yates
Episode 1138th October 2024 • Omni Talk Retail • Omni Talk Retail
00:00:00 00:08:39

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Walmart+ is making waves in the retail landscape, particularly among high-income households, as it evolves to meet customer demands for convenience and value. In this engaging conversation, Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton speak with Venessa Yates, the SVP and GM of Walmart+, live from the VusionGroup Studio at Groceryshop 2024. Venessa shares insights into the membership program's growth and the benefits it offers, including free shipping, delivery, and unique partnerships.

Venessa discusses her journey from merchandising to leading Walmart+ and highlights how the program originated during the pandemic as a response to changing consumer needs. The trio delves into Walmart's strategy of leveraging customer insights to enhance the membership experience and attract new demographics. As they explore the innovative features of Walmart+, the discussion underscores the program's potential to compete directly with giants like Amazon Prime, positioning Walmart as a formidable player in the retail market.

Takeaways:

  • Walmart Plus is designed to provide undeniable value to customers through various membership benefits.
  • Venessa Yates emphasized the importance of customer insights in shaping the Walmart Plus program.
  • The membership program includes unique third-party benefits like video streaming and telehealth services.
  • Walmart+ aims to cater to a wide range of income levels and lifestyles.
  • The program has evolved since its launch in 2020, adapting to changing customer needs.
  • Walmart is leveraging digital strategies to engage new customer cohorts effectively.


This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Transcripts

Ann Mazinga:

Hello, everyone.

Ann Mazinga:

Welcome back.

Ann Mazinga:

to you live from Grocery shop:

Ann Mazinga:

Come by and see us all day today.

Ann Mazinga:

I'm Ann Mazinga.

Chris Walton:

And I'm Chris Walton.

Ann Mazinga:

And standing between us, we have another wonderful guest.

Ann Mazinga:

We have Vanessa Yates, the SVP and GM of Walmart plus.

Ann Mazinga:

Welcome to omnitalk, Vanessa.

Vanessa Yates:

Thanks.

Vanessa Yates:

Thanks for having me.

Ann Mazinga:

How's your show been going so far?

Vanessa Yates:

Going well, so far.

Vanessa Yates:

It's my first grocery shop.

Ann Mazinga:

It is nice.

Vanessa Yates:

It is really excited to be here.

Vanessa Yates:

It is, yeah.

Chris Walton:

Yeah.

Chris Walton:

Wow.

Chris Walton:

Well, tell Doug it's about your background.

Chris Walton:

So from the accident I detected, you hail from down under.

Chris Walton:

So tell us about your job, Walmart plus, what it entails and how you got to your position.

Vanessa Yates:

Sure.

Vanessa Yates:

Yeah.

Vanessa Yates:

ralian, so born and raised in:

Vanessa Yates:

So I've spent 17 years in merchandising and about a year, year and a half ago now popped over into the membership side of the business and haven't looked back.

Vanessa Yates:

It's been an awesome adventure.

Chris Walton:

And what are you all responsible for in terms of Walmart plus?

Chris Walton:

Like, lay the landscape for us.

Vanessa Yates:

Yeah, no problem.

Vanessa Yates:

So in case you don't know what Walmart plus is, maybe I'll start.

Vanessa Yates:

So it is our membership program for Walmart and we have a whole bunch of internal sourced benefits.

Vanessa Yates:

So think free shipping, free delivery from store fuel, discounts, coupled with a bunch of third party benefits.

Vanessa Yates:

So think video streaming with Paramount plus, pet, telehealth, a whole bunch of other third party benefits like travel, that we wrap up and bundle into a membership program for $98 a year or $12.95 a month.

Vanessa Yates:

was kind of a concept born in:

Vanessa Yates:

think about where you were in:

Vanessa Yates:

I was stuck in my house and looking for ways to get groceries to my home.

Vanessa Yates:

And so were a lot of our customers.

Vanessa Yates:

And so it really was born out of this idea of convenience and offering free delivery for our customers.

Vanessa Yates:

And then as things sort of opened back up again, customers were traveling differently, so we added fuel discounts, and so it's been this constant kind of evolution of what do our customers want and how are we uniquely positioned to give it to them?

Ann Mazinga:

How do you start to bring in things like entertainment?

Ann Mazinga:

I guess I'm just so curious, having worked on partnerships when I was back in my days at Target, really thinking about what's getting people to join this program.

Ann Mazinga:

How do you start to ideate around that?

Ann Mazinga:

How does your team work on starting some of those conversations?

Vanessa Yates:

Yeah, I think one of the, as a company Walmart, one of the things that we're known for is putting the customer first all of the time.

Vanessa Yates:

And so really, really proud of the team and how they engage with member and customer insights.

Vanessa Yates:

And so we do a whole bunch of research in terms of how our customers spend and engage with our brand, how they spend outside of the Walmart ecosystem, and really balancing those insights with what can we do best as a retailer, and then where can we partner in areas that we maybe don't have the core expertise?

Ann Mazinga:

That's really cool.

Vanessa Yates:

And so if you think about how you spend your time, you spend it probably streaming, probably exercising.

Vanessa Yates:

Maybe you have a pet.

Vanessa Yates:

Like 75% of our members do.

Vanessa Yates:

And so we start looking at this whole kind of variety of ways that we can bring savings, both from a time and money perspective to our members and run from there.

Chris Walton:

Yeah, you've nailed and to a t, actually.

Ann Mazinga:

Absolutely.

Chris Walton:

So.

Chris Walton:

For sure.

Ann Mazinga:

Thank you.

Chris Walton:

All right, so one of the things that we, that we, we talked a lot about on our show last week, and it's been gaining a lot of steam in the media, too, is, is Walmart's current positioning with what is what people are calling the 200,000 plus household income level that you've been gaining share at that level.

Chris Walton:

How much of an impact has Walmart plus particularly had on that statistic?

Vanessa Yates:

Yeah, I think the exciting thing about Walmart, first, is we're here to save customers and members time and money so they can live better.

Vanessa Yates:

So we've got that promise in our mission, and that starts everything for us.

Vanessa Yates:

At the end of the day, warm up plus is here and designed to bring value to everyone.

Vanessa Yates:

And so that value might look different based on the income bracket you're in or the lifestyle you have, whether you have children, whether you're a certain age bracket, whether you live somewhere different in the states than we all do.

Vanessa Yates:

So we try to look for ways to bring value to everybody, regardless of their income, status, and try to figure out what's the level of value you're looking for from the membership and bringing that into life as well.

Vanessa Yates:

The really cool thing about our members is they shop twice as much and spend twice as much, shop twice as often.

Vanessa Yates:

So we're seeing value from our members, and so they're really heavily engaged, really looking for ways to utilize our benefits and continuing to invest in us, which tells us we're on the right track right.

Ann Mazinga:

And you're giving, especially that higher income demographic, you're giving them a reason now to more easily get the goods that they may have gone somewhere else for in the past.

Ann Mazinga:

And now they're.

Ann Mazinga:

You're giving them reasons to kind of seek out Walmart.

Ann Mazinga:

Yeah, they might not have before.

Vanessa Yates:

Right.

Vanessa Yates:

And kudos to our e commerce team, too.

Vanessa Yates:

Right.

Vanessa Yates:

They're continuing to find ways to turn the physical shelf into a really extensive digital shelf.

Vanessa Yates:

And when you do that, you broaden your appeal to many more customer cohorts.

Vanessa Yates:

And so where we might not have had consideration in the past, we do now.

Vanessa Yates:

And that just continues to bolster the program for us.

Chris Walton:

Well, that was the unlock for us in talking about.

Chris Walton:

It was the digital angles that Walmart has been exploring with Walmart plus and through other things is really the conduit by which it reaches these new customers as well.

Chris Walton:

Right?

Chris Walton:

Is that how you think about it?

Vanessa Yates:

Yeah, absolutely.

Vanessa Yates:

And, you know, I think we've had tremendous success and growth as a brick and, brick and mortar retailer, but we're having incredible growth in our e comm.

Vanessa Yates:

And you will have heard that in our earnings releases most recently as well.

Vanessa Yates:

And so wherever we can bring both experiences, items, assortment, and suppliers and sellers together for our member community, I mean, it's a good thing.

Vanessa Yates:

Our number one benefit is delivery, and closely behind that is free shipping.

Vanessa Yates:

No minimum.

Vanessa Yates:

So if you think about the millions of items that you can get access to and not have to pay a minimum, it's a pretty big bet for.

Chris Walton:

Us, particularly with the marketplace in place.

Vanessa Yates:

Right?

Vanessa Yates:

Yeah.

Ann Mazinga:

Right.

Ann Mazinga:

Yeah.

Ann Mazinga:

Well, let's talk a little bit about you're going to be on stage here at grocery shop.

Ann Mazinga:

Let's talk a little bit about what you'll be talking about and kind of what your hope is that the audience takes away from that session.

Vanessa Yates:

Yeah, yeah, I'm really excited, actually.

Vanessa Yates:

So it is my first time here at grocery shop and I'm sharing the stage with a couple of folks who I'm really excited to partner with.

Vanessa Yates:

And we're talking about convenience and affordability.

Vanessa Yates:

So I feel like that's a great tag into what Walmart does every single day.

Vanessa Yates:

And we're going to talk a little bit about the history of Walmart plus and where we've been and, you know, how we've evolved over time, talking a little bit about the insights that help us create the program that it is.

Vanessa Yates:

And I hope from a takeaway perspective, I hope folks are inspired in the room to think about how they can uniquely meet the needs of their customers as well.

Vanessa Yates:

But also think of Walmart plus as something that they might be interested in investing in and paying attention.

Vanessa Yates:

Some attention to.

Ann Mazinga:

Yeah.

Ann Mazinga:

I think the other part that is really unique about the Walmart plus offering is just, it's not just about convenience being the delivery aspect of it, too, but really the number of us that are so close to Walmart that it's also the curbside benefits, you know, like all the things that come from that, not just the, you know, the convenience being you save a little bit of money or it's a little bit more affordable option.

Vanessa Yates:

Yeah, 100%.

Vanessa Yates:

And we recently, you would have seen, we launched a partnership with Burger King.

Vanessa Yates:

You know, a third of their stores are located near a Walmart store.

Vanessa Yates:

So we can give you lunch and your grocery experience all in the one trip.

Ann Mazinga:

And it practically pays for the membership.

Ann Mazinga:

We did the math.

Ann Mazinga:

One day it pays for the membership.

Vanessa Yates:

At my house if you ate enough burgers.

Chris Walton:

I just went to Burger King the other day, actually.

Chris Walton:

Thank you 100%.

Vanessa Yates:

You're welcome.

Ann Mazinga:

You're welcome.

Chris Walton:

All right, well, let's get you out of here on this.

Chris Walton:

You know, we've, Ann and I have both been astonished by what it appears that Walmart plus is doing.

Chris Walton:

And we said on a recent podcast, too, that right now it kind of looks like a better value than Amazon prime.

Chris Walton:

So do you agree with that statement?

Chris Walton:

I'm curious.

Vanessa Yates:

And if so, if not, here's what I would say.

Chris Walton:

Okay.

Vanessa Yates:

I would say we're in the business of providing undeniable value to our members.

Chris Walton:

Okay.

Vanessa Yates:

And that means millions of items available at everyday low prices within as little as 30 minutes in most instances.

Vanessa Yates:

So we're doing that for $98 a year or $12.95 a month.

Vanessa Yates:

That has been the price of our membership since launch.

Chris Walton:

Yes.

Vanessa Yates:

So I feel like that's undeniably valuable, and I do think it's an incredibly valuable program, for sure.

Chris Walton:

I like how she said that price since launch.

Chris Walton:

Yes.

Chris Walton:

As we've seen that the competition tends to create look at things a little bit differently.

Ann Mazinga:

Yeah.

Ann Mazinga:

More offering in the membership.

Ann Mazinga:

Same price.

Chris Walton:

Yes.

Vanessa Yates:

Right.

Chris Walton:

That's the key message there.

Chris Walton:

Nicely done.

Chris Walton:

Nicely done.

Ann Mazinga:

Well, that wraps us up.

Ann Mazinga:

Thank you so much to the fusion group for making all of our coverage here at grocery shop possible again.

Ann Mazinga:

Chris and I will be here for the next couple of days at booth a 210.

Ann Mazinga:

Thank you.

Ann Mazinga:

Especially to you, Vanessa Yates, Walmart plus.

Ann Mazinga:

Thanks for stopping by and sharing the details that you did today with us.

Ann Mazinga:

And please, for all those who are at the conference, make sure to check out your session.

Vanessa Yates:

Thanks for having me.

Vanessa Yates:

I appreciate it.

Ann Mazinga:

And until next time, be careful out there.

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