Walmart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,650 retail units under 55 different banners in 15 countries. The company achieved fiscal year 2010 sales of $405 billion.
However, Daniel Eckert (Vice President, Financial Services, Walmart) stressed at the end of the day (and of the Innovation Institute) that business professionals need to remember it’s all about the consumer.
“They vote every single day with that choice and that choice of Wal-Mart,” he said. “They vote in their choice of payment services.”
He quoted Walmart founder Sam Walton: “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
Eckert noted that the only payments service Walmart directly facilitates is its check cashing business. Instead, he described Walmart as “an architect of innovation.” On the Wal-Mart Money Card, for example, the company works with GE Money Bank, Green Dot, and TSYS.
He described typical Walmart clientele as follows:
Eckert described how Walmart goes on “shop-alongs” with consumers. The process includes not only spending time with consumers at Walmart but an entire day with families in order to truly understand their real pain points.
So how does Walmart approach innovation, particularly in the payments space? Factors considered include behavioral analysis, attitudes and usage observations, and conjoint analysis that attempts to simulate the market environment, according to Eckert.
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