Retail Brief: Walmart and Amazon Revamp Strategies for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Walmart and Amazon are both ramping up their strategies for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, seeking to capture consumer interest during the holiday shopping season.

Walmart’s Black Friday events will unfold in three phases. The first event begins online on Nov. 11  at noon ET for Walmart+ members, with general access at 5 p.m. ET, and in-store deals starting Nov. 15 at 6 a.m. local time. The second event launches online on Nov. 25 at noon ET for Walmart+ members and at 5 p.m. ET for all customers, with in-store availability on Nov. 29 at 6 a.m. local time. Cyber Monday deals kick off Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. ET for Walmart+ members, followed by a broader launch at 8 p.m. ET for all customers on Walmart.com and the app, featuring three hours of early access for members.

Walmart+ members will benefit from a five-hour early access window for deals and a promotional half-price membership offer of $49 until Dec. 2. The company is also expanding its delivery services, aiming to make shopping more convenient.

In a blog post, Amazon touted its upcoming Black Friday event with details to be coming soon. The company plans to offer a variety of deals across various categories. Amazon encourages customers to check its Deals page or use Alexa for personalized notifications about items in their carts or wish lists. Additionally, Amazon is introducing Rufus, an AI shopping assistant designed to streamline the gift-finding process, along with curated gift guides and support for small businesses.

Anyone interested in Prime membership can join for $14.99 per month or $139 annually.

As both retailers enhance their offerings with technology and personalized experiences, they are positioning themselves as prime destinations for holiday shoppers looking for convenience and value.

Here’s a look at other notable developments from Amazon and Walmart in the past week:

Amazon Highlights

Empowering AI Innovation: Box and Amazon Web Services (AWS) expanded their partnership to enhance generative AI capabilities for organizations. Box customers can now use Amazon Bedrock to access advanced foundation models, including Anthropic’s Claude and Amazon Titan, directly within Box AI. This integration allows companies to build generative AI applications that leverage their data securely managed in Box’s Intelligent Content Management platform. The collaboration aims to empower various industries, such as financial services, media, law, nonprofits and life sciences, by enabling them to transform their proprietary content into actionable intelligence.

AI-Driven Transportation: CelcomDigi, Malaysia’s largest mobile operator, is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to become an AI-driven organization, elevating services for more than 20 million customers. By establishing an AI Sandbox with AWS, the company has developed over 15 generative AI applications to optimize operations, including machine learning tools to analyze network performance. CelcomDigi plans to migrate 90% of its critical workloads to AWS within five years, improving service deployment speed and reducing IT costs.

Walmart Highlights

Holiday Shipping With AI: Walmart is enhancing the holiday shopping experience by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) tools to streamline the process from discovery to delivery. Shoppers on Walmart.com will encounter a personalized experience tailored to their preferences, with AI predicting relevant content and product recommendations based on past searches. Additionally, a GenAI-powered shopping assistant helps customers find and evaluate gifts, while tools like product comparisons and AI-driven reviews further simplify decision-making.

Customer Care Excellence: For the ninth consecutive year, Sam’s Club Pharmacies have been recognized as the top-rated provider in customer satisfaction among mass merchandiser pharmacies, according to the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Pharmacy Study. Sam’s Club has 573 pharmacies across the U.S.