Walmart Launches 30 Second Mobile Returns

“One brand, one customer experience.”

That, Daniel Eckert Walmart’s SVP of Digital Acceleration, is the guiding principle for Walmart’s mobile upgrades over the last year: payments, order ahead/pick up in store, delivery and money services.

It’s foundational to the latest addition to its mobile arsenal – Mobile Express Returns – announced today.

The Walmart customer, Eckert said, doesn’t think about a transaction being “Walmart.com” transaction vs. “Walmart instore transaction” – and they never wonder about an “omnichannel experience” ever. Customers, particularly the Walmart customer, just wants to shop Walmart across any channel and get a single, predictable, great experience while doing it.

Mobile Return Express, he said, doubles down on Walmart’s believe that time has become as important a currency in retail as money. For the  busy families Walmart seeks to serve, Eckert said that it’s critical that they leverage technology to create a more convenient shopping experience.

Those moves include the rollout of Walmart Pay, the membership-free offers of two-day shipping, curbside pick-up for grocery orders and mobile money services, Eckertnoted – all of which are premised on making customers experiences faster and friction-free.

The big gap, though, was returning products and waiting for a refund. That’s where Eckert said that leveraging Walmart’s physical store footprint  – 90 percent of America lives within a 10 minute drive to one of Walmart’s 4,700 locations – and “the power of the Walmart app” that Walmart can “change that in a way that only [Walmart] can.

The New Express Return Policy

The process, Eckert noted, is intended to simple and intuitive.

For customers with a Walmart.com item that hasn’t worked out as expected – customers have always been able to bring it back to a physical store location and handle the return.  But, until recently, that process was rather lumpy, Eckert said, and could take a full five minutes for a customer to make it all the way through with a refund.

That may not sound terribly long, but for a parent in line with a cranky child, that is an eternity.

Process improvements made over the last year or so have reduced that timing about 90 seconds for an in-store return, but Eckert said that Walmart felt they could still do a lot better.

Mobile Express Returns in that attempt.

To use the program – a customer’s start the return process at home by logging into their app and identifying the item they wanted to return saved within their Walmart orders (all orders made online, or through Walmart Pay in store are saved within the Walmart app). They then mark that item a click, and follow the prompts through the app to start the process.

Once that is done, the customer travels to the store, waits in a mobile service line, scans a return QR code with their phone – and leaves.

Total time end to end when inside the Walmart – about 30 seconds.

Moreover Eckert noted, the new systems is also designed to save customers a trip back to the store to return goods when making a full return doesn’t make sense for either Walmart or the customer.

Eckert shared a personal example of ordering floor cleaner on Walmart.com, and having it arrive, only to discover that the bottle had broken and leaked en route.Rather than repacking what is a sloppy mess and take it to a store, Walmart offers an instant refund via its “Keep It” feature. The customer can dispose of the unwanted item as they see fit.

The instant refund service is limited to a list of selected goods, such as household, beauty and cosmetic items.

And though that might lead some to be tempted to commit fraud and never pay for floor cleaner or shampoo again, Eckert was not terribly worried.

“We have technology to keep that sort of fraud and abuse from happening,” he said, adding that  they can detect customers who may be trying to game the “Keep It” system.

The Omnichannel Future And Walmart

For now, Mobile Express Return will only apply to things bought online through Walmart.com or the Walmart app – and it will be available as soon as November 2017. But, Eckert noted, the program is also built to apply to purchases at Walmart stores – meaning that as of early 2018 all Walmart purchases from any channel will be able to tap into Mobile Express Returns, including third party merchants using Walmart’s marketplace.

Eckert said that customer feedback told them that it wasn’t as easy as it should be to buy online and return in store and he and his team wanted to make returning something as pleasurable as buying it.

“As a retailer with a big physical presence and a rapidly growing online footprint, it’s our mindset, Eckert said, emphasizing the seamless nature of the process.

It’s a mindset, he said, that purely digital players don’t have.

Eckert also hinted that Mobile Express Returns is just the latest innovation -with more to come.

“Mobile Express Returns is our latest enhancement but far from our last,” Eckert said, adding that more announcements on how Walmart will use its network of Walmart stores and technology to create unique retail experiences are on the horizon.