Walmart Launches Web-Based Collaborative Planning Portal

By Adam Blair
Walmart has decided that it's nice to share.

The world's largest retailer recently announced that it would once again start sharing its sales data with the third-party market research firm Nielsen after more than a decade spent outside the industry's data sharing community. And next month, Walmart will launch Customer Advantage, a Web-based portal for collaborative planning with its suppliers that will be based on a common custom knowledge base about Walmart's shoppers.

"The Customer Advantage solution identifies and sizes opportunities among shopper segments, trips and categories that will better enable Walmart and its supplier partners to grow their businesses through a deeper understanding of our customers," said Cindy Davis, EVP of Walmart global customer insights in a statement.

The Customer Advantage platform will be powered by technology and marketing analytics from SymphonyIRI, formerly known as Information Resources, Inc. (IRI). The platform supports collaborative planning processes by providing a dedicated shopper insights portal offering customizable reports shared between the retailer and its suppliers. Leveraging SymphonyIRI's Consumer Network, the solution's custom features include exclusive Walmart business drivers such as Walmart-defined shopping trips, geographies and customer segments.

By leveraging shared knowledge about Walmart shoppers, the Bentonville Giant and its suppliers will be better able to work together to improve planning, shopper marketing and growth through better shopper insights.

Walmart's emphasis on growth and its increasing willingness to share data about its sales, and more crucially about its customers and their purchasing patterns, is likely being fueled by the relatively anemic performance of its U.S. stores. The retailer has had eight consecutive quarters – two full years – of declining domestic comp store sales. For the quarter that ended April 29, 2011, U.S. Walmart stores' comp store sales fell 1.1%, although Sam's Club comp store sales rose 4.2% during the same period. Walmart International has been the company's growth engine, with sales climbing 11.5% during this period, which is Q1 of Walmart's fiscal 2012.

In addition, Walmart's traditional growth vehicle – opening new stores – has been stymied not just by the recession's lingering effects but by a lack of available markets. The retailer has made concerted efforts to enter urban areas including Chicago and New York City but has been delayed by stringent zoning regulations and pro-union activists concerned about the retailer's labor practices record. Walmart's pledge to open 275 to 300 stores in underserved "food deserts" as part of Michelle Obama's Partnership for a Healthier America may be part of the company's overall effort to combat these forces and re-invigorate its domestic growth.

For related content see: Walmart-Nielsen Data Sharing Deal Fills Long-Standing Analytical Gap

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