Retailers Retool to Attract Deal Seekers as ‘Value’ Takes Center Stage

The concept of value is getting a makeover left, right and center as retailers respond to consumers’ inflationary pullback in spending with a cocktail of considerations that go way beyond simple pricing.

Latest up in the trend is daily deals eCommerce site Zulily, which just unveiled its new online superstore concept. Currently owned by QVC parent Qurate Retail Group, the 13-year-old site caters to mom’s and has just announced a raft of tweaks that use machine learning and in-house stylists to make shopping fast, fun and, given the current economic environment, more affordable as it attempts to redefine the elusive idea of “value” in 2022.

“[T]he value equation for shoppers has shifted, which means Zulily must play a different role in the lives of millions of moms,” according to a company press release, which noted the unveiling of new features and functionalities it said represent “an evolution of its business model that is geared toward providing added value to its shopping experience.”

Read also: Amazon vs Walmart Weekly — Who Can Deliver the Value Consumers Want and Need?

Specifically, Zulily’s changeup includes a new focus on elevating limited-time daily deals from “trusted brands,” a virtual store-within-a-store concept that includes 300 top-selling labels, and its enhanced “Everyday Value” offering that is aimed at the increasingly budget-minded consumer.

“We have technologically created a shopping experience that focuses on what we’re calling a new way to shop — curated discovery search,” Zulily Chief Technology Officer Courtney Kissler said in an email to PYMNTS, noting the intention to save customers both time and money.

“[Curated discovery] enables increased transparency and ability to distinguish daily, limited-time deals from something moms can come back to day after day, and offers everyday value on essentials and basics for all moms’ needs,” Kissler added.

Inflation Bites

Repositioning eCommerce for the value shopper is trending heavily now as inflationary pressures continue to weaken consumers’ buying power on everything from groceries to nonessentials.

“The watchwords for retailers this holiday season will be ‘affordability’ and ‘digital,’” Joel Bines, global co-head of the retail practice at AlixPartners said in a holiday shopping forecast report from the retail consultancy, noting that what it called “me-centric consumers” currently hold all the power.

“[Consumers are] worried about inflation and worried about recession,” Bines added, “[and] as a result, consumers will be holding out for deals this year, even as retailers themselves struggle with their own inflation and with massive inventories.”

Walmart is making similar moves, announcing in a Tuesday (Sept. 13) blog post that it has made site-wide enhancements to improve discoverability and product search while doubling down on personalization and search features in a bid to better connect with, and convert, shoppers.

“Our goal is to create a seamless site and app experience that makes it easier for customers to find value and savings, whether they’re shopping for familiar weekly essentials or something new and different,” Walmart U.S. Chief eCommerce Officer Tom Ward said in the post. “More robust content on item pages — videos, images and more — ensures when a customer lands on a product they’re interested in, they have all the information they need to feel confident purchasing it.”

Read more: Walmart Ramps up Online Site Personalization to Improve EBT, Gift Registry

These moves are just a slice of a broad-based shift that comes in response to deepening financial worries, especially for the growing number of paycheck-to-paycheck households struggling to stretch budgets.

According to the PYMNTS study “Consumer Inflation Sentiment: Inflation Slowly Ebbs, but Consumer Outlook Remains Gloomy,” based on a survey of nearly 2,200 United States consumers, paycheck-to-paycheck households with issues paying bills are the most pessimistic, “with 28% saying they believe inflation will continue at its current rate for longer than two years.”

“A major cause of this pessimism is that even though gas prices have dropped, other prices, including those of groceries and retail goods, have continued to increase,” the report stated. “Consumers are most pessimistic about grocery prices, with 64% expecting them to keep rising through the next year. Sixty-one percent of consumers expect price increases in restaurant meals, and 60% expect to see retail prices increase.”

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