Walmart’s Pickup Towers Improve Shopping Experience

Walmart’s Pickup Towers Improve Shopping Experience

April 15, 2019
Lisa M. Spencer

What is bright orange, 16 feet tall, and improves the Walmart shopping experience?

It’s the pickup tower, being installed in hundreds of locations across the country.

Shoppers order merchandise online and pick it up in a giant vending machine located at the front of the Walmart store by simply scanning a bar code from their phone.  If the merchandise was available in the store, customers can pick items up about an hour after ordering.  If the items are being shipped, customers get an estimate of when they will be ready.  The service is free, and can be used for relatively smaller items.   A row of lockers located next to the vending machine can handle medium-sized items as well.

Video Spotlight: Walmart Pickup Tower AKA Giant Vending Machine: How Does It Work???

This post is based on the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly article, Walmart introduces new pickup tower, by Steve Garbacz, March 28, 2019, and the YouTube video, Walmart Pickup Tower AKA Giant Vending Machine: How Does It Work???, by Rich DeMuro, August 15, 2018. Image source: Design Pics / Kristy-Anne Glubish

Discussion Questions:

1. What core competencies does Walmart have that Continue reading →

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The Timeless Cool of Levi’s

The Timeless Cool of Levi’s

April 12, 2019
Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.

Levi Strauss invented the blue jean in the late 1800s. Since then, jeans have become an iconic staple of everyone’s wardrobe.

Despite being the symbols of various cultural movements, Levi’s jeans lost their appeal over time. With fierce competition from designer brands, teenage retailers, and streetwear companies, sales plateaued, and the company’s financial health deteriorated.

As the company goes public for the second time in its long history, the CEO expects that the injection of new capital will help the company innovate and regain its trendiness.

Video Spotlight: Levi’s “Circles” Commercial

This post is based on the New York Times article, Levi’s, Whose Jeans Are a Rugged Symbol of Americana, Prepares to Go Public, by S. Maheshwari, March 18, 2019; and the YouTube video, Levi’s “Circles” Commercial, by Levi’s, August 18, 2017. Image source: Redfx / Alamy

Discussion Questions:

1. Why does Mr. Bergh, the CEO, say that Levi’s had an “unclear” strategy?

Guidance: A strategy is a long-term blueprint. Levi’s had lost touch with its customers and stopped innovating, a requirement for success in the crowded apparel business. With a lack of long-term thinking and strategic positioning, inadequate advertising ensued, and Levi’s lost the “cool” Continue reading →

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