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Walmart Reveals Seasonal Plans, Including Introduction Of ‘Holiday Helpers’

Starting Nov. 4 in stores, Walmart's Holiday Helpers will be dedicated to helping customers get through the checkout process faster. Holiday Helpers, ready with candy canes and smiles, will assist customers with finding the shortest line, open registers as needed and will even quickly grab items customers might have forgotten, Walmart says.
Starting Nov. 4 in stores, Walmart's Holiday Helpers will be dedicated to helping customers get through the checkout process faster. Holiday Helpers, ready with candy canes and smiles, will assist customers with finding the shortest line, open registers as needed and will even quickly grab items customers might have forgotten, Walmart says.

Last updated on October 28th, 2016 at 09:13 am

Walmart said today that it plans to “deliver its trademark low prices for customers this holiday while meeting their everyday needs throughout the season.” Additionally, for the first time, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer is deploying an army of “Holiday Helpers” to better serve customers in the checkout line. Walmart says it also has dramatically increased the amount of products available through its Pickup service, launched thousands of rollbacks along with other great prices available every day, and will add millions of items to Walmart.com in the coming months.

“We are listening to our customers and looking for ways to simplify their busy lives,” said Judith McKenna, COO, Walmart U.S. “Whether our customers are checking items off their grocery lists or their kids’ holiday lists, we want to make their shopping experiences easy and fun. This includes having clean, fast and friendly stores, an easier checkout experience and enabling customers to shop seamlessly through services like Pickup.”

Starting Nov. 4 in stores, Walmart’s Holiday Helpers will be dedicated to helping customers get through the checkout process faster, according to Walmart. Holiday Helpers, ready with candy canes and smiles, will assist customers with finding the shortest line, open registers as needed and will even quickly grab items customers might have forgotten. During peak times, Walmart stores will increase the number of Holiday Helpers serving customers.

These Holiday Helpers will bring the holiday spirit to stores, which will be transformed into winter wonderlands this year, according to Walmart, which adds that customers also will enjoy more than 150,000 planned demos and visits from Santa who will make 23,000 appearances throughout the season.

Pickup, especially same-day, is popular during the holiday season, according to Walmart. During busy holiday shopping weeks, Walmart receives up to five times as many same-day pickup orders as compared to a normal week. Walmart has expanded the assortment available for pickup overall and has added tens of thousands of items in categories like apparel, seasonal décor, toys and electronics for same-day Pickup. To facilitate a faster and easier pickup experience, the retailer is allocating additional Pickup staff, including dedicated Pickup managers in every store for the first time.

Offering new items and exclusives in stores and online

From an exclusive Disney Princess Carriage and a 3D Virtual Reality Drone to ugly Christmas sweaters, Walmart says it is stocking its shelves with the items it knows customers will be looking for, including exclusives in every category. To kick off the season, the retailer has launched thousands of new rollbacks combined with tens of thousands of items available at low prices every day. For example, Walmart will offer a new Roku 32-inch HDTV for $125 in November and December, which is the same price as the retailer’s Black Friday offer last year.

“I can’t remember another year when I’ve been this excited about the merchandise we are offering customers,” said Steve Bratspies, chief merchandising officer, Walmart U.S. “It’s not just about one category or one item. Our whole store is going to be stocked with new, exciting items from hot toys to new electronics available at the best prices. We will win the season on price, from the first weekend in November to Black Friday and Cyber Monday and through those final weeks in December.”

Walmart says it has substantially grown its online assortment from roughly eight million at the start of this year to 20 million today, with millions of additional items scheduled to be added in the coming months. The retailer says it also is making its broader assortment easier to shop. Starting Nov. 1, Walmart.com will feature a top 20 list of items to help customers discover exclusive offerings, great prices and products they wouldn’t expect to find at Walmart, according to the company.

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