Walmart is shaking up its stores with a new design aimed at emphasizing its “omni-shopping” capabilities.
Inspired by airport wayfinding systems, the new design was developed by Walmart to increase navigability through stores and to increase focus on the company’s digital shopping experience. Walmart will be updating the exterior and interior signage to include the Walmart app icon and will be added a store directory at the stores’ entrance that reminds shoppers to download and use the Walmart app while shopping.
In addition to updating signage, Walmart is adding new typefaces for store departments and marking aisles with letter and number combinations. These are aimed at guiding customers from their phones to products.
“Developed through a customer-centric lens, the design creates an elevated experience that appeals to shoppers through a sleek design aesthetic, a layout that spotlights products and an end-to-end digital navigation that guides customers throughout their journeys,” Walmart executive vice president and chief customer officer Janey Whiteside wrote in a corporate blog post.
Building on the new typefaces, Walmart is increasing visibility by optimizing product layouts. “We developed simple yet thoughtful designs to replicate these navigation efficiencies, which will help us move customers through the store more quickly,” Whiteside said.
The redesign will highlight self-checkout and contactless payment options, including Walmart Pay. When Walmart announced its new membership service, Walmart+, the company revealed customers would be able to use Scan & Go, a Walmart app feature, to scan items as they shop and pay on the Walmart Pay app.
According to Whiteside, this new design has been tested in several stores, receiving customer and associate feedback. Walmart will begin rolling out the new design this fall.
Walmart expects to implement the new store design in approximately 200 Supercenters, in addition to select Health Centers and Neighborhood Markets, by the end of the current fiscal year. By the next fiscal year, the company plans to have 1,000 stores with the new design.
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