Wal-Mart pushes in-store use of mobile apps
Wal-Mart hopes that shoppers will use the company's mobile applications in-store and even recently announced some specific features made just for customers in the brand's brick-and-mortar locations.
One such feature is an aisle locator, which tells shoppers precisely where they can locate any item they are looking for within the store. Consumers can add various products to their mobile shopping list, and the app will provide information on which aisle that product is located in, Internet Retailer reports.
Another new feature is In-Store Mode, which enables shoppers to scan barcodes on products to get prices or other product information. They can also look for any discounts the brand may be running.
"Wal-Mart also added a tool to its app that lets consumers select the store they visit most often and create a shopping list at home by scanning, typing or speaking items to buy," the news source adds. "The app then pulls the price for each item from the selected store and calculates the total price for all items on the list."
A number of retailers fear consumers will use their smartphones in-store to find better prices elsewhere, which makes Wal-Mart's new initiative unique in that it is encouraging shoppers to utilize these devices.
