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Walmart Launches Text to Shop

Walmart
Walmart Launches Text to Shop

Talk about impulse shopping – Walmart launched a new feature on Wednesday that lets customers shop by simply sending a text. The company quoted a shopper who explained how it would make her life easier: “When different things pop into your mind you’re usually out and about running errands. I don’t have time to log into the app and add to the cart.”

“Text to Shop is seamlessly connected to your Walmart account, so we know your usual ordered items,” Walmart explained in Wednesday’s announcement. “Simply text the items you need, and they get added to your cart. Choose from the full selection of Walmart’s products, including items from your local store and from Walmart.com. Text “reorder” to quickly review and add your frequently ordered items to your cart.”

If the feature sounds familiar, it’s because Walmart launched it as a beta test in October of 2021. To go back even further into Walmart’s history of working on conversational commerce, see today’s Business Insider.

If a shopper texts an item they haven’t purchased before, Walmart provides options from which to choose. How do you know if the item was added to your cart? “We’ll tell you,” Walmart explained in a FAQ. “We try to keep the conversation moving, but Text to Shop will confirm when an item is added to your cart via text.”

The feature isn’t just capable of adding things to the accountholder’s shopping cart. The Walmart Text to Shop feature also lets customers switch things out, review what’s in their cart, checkout, and schedule pickups and deliveries.

Because Text to Shop is linked to the customer’s Walmart account, it has their payment information, preferred pickup locations, and delivery address.

Written by 

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.