October 9, 2000

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Walmart.com: Closed For Remodeling

Retailer turns to new E-commerce platform before holiday shopping season arrives

By Beth Bacheldor

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almart.com, following the lead of brick-and-mortar retailers who close their doors for inventory or remodeling, last week shut down operations to revamp its online store. The E-retailer says the temporary shutdown will let it make the transition to a new E-commerce platform it acquired when it bought HomeWareHouse.com's technology assets in July. The goal is to provide a faster, easy-to-use site, says a spokeswoman for the dot-com. The site is slated to reopen by Nov. 1.

The remodeled site will be designed to be easier to navigate and search, and it will include "merchandising shops," or groups of similar products. Walmart.com is also changing its checkout process and enhancing a tool that lets customers find store locations. The E-retailer will keep all customers' first and last names, shipping addresses, and ZIP codes. But it's deleting credit-card information and passwords for the revamp; customers will have to re-enter the information on their initial return visit.

Those changes can't be done while the site is running. "We have a broad assortment of products and a significant amount of data," the spokeswoman says. "To make this transition, and to do it right, we need to shut down temporarily, check it, and check it again so the site will be reliable."

Walmart.com may be taking a risk by revamping its site right before the holiday shopping season, which starts in mid-November, analysts say. "It's a bold move," says Heather Dougherty, a retail analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix. "We can only hope that whatever they're launching is really well-tested."

Walmart.com likely has the resources to pull off a holiday remodeling so close to the holidays, analysts say. "This isn't a stupid company," says Carol Baroudi, director of E-business strategies at Hurwitz Group. "If changes need to be made, they need to be made now."

Wal-Mart needed to improve its site, which contained too much clutter and not enough depth, Dougherty says. "That's been the case with all the online discounters," she says.

The closure may inconvenience some customers, but it's better than having a Web site that delivers a poor customer experience, says Chris Newton, senior analyst of E-fulfillment at AMR Research, who adds that doing so "would leave a worse taste in the customer's mouth."

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