CASE STUDY
Walmart
Refreshing the retail experience to deliver “Modern Value” to Chinese consumers
Challenge
With over 20 years of experience operating in China, Walmart is one of the largest hypermarket chains today with more than 400 stores across the country. Walmart’s challenge today is how to evolve its offer and experience in response to disruptive shifts in shopper behaviors, as well as staying relevant with the emergence of new online to offline (O2O) competitors that are challenging traditional retail formats.
Solutions
Prophet worked with Walmart to refresh its retail experience in order to fuel Walmart’s next phase of growth.
Prophet’s research demonstrated that while Chinese consumers are digital-savvy and are open to transforming how they shop; they are still looking to “save money, live better.” This is, and has always been, Walmart’s key purpose. Supported by this consumer insight, Prophet saw an opportunity to create an experience unique to Walmart’s consumer value proposition. To articulate what the Walmart brand stands for and how it stands out, we defined the brand concept “Modern Value,” which set the foundation for the rest of the design and experience.
After defining what “Modern Value” should look and feel like, our team set out to develop a retail design and identity that delivers on value, confidence and simplicity that would resonate with modern Chinese consumers. The new store experience feels contemporary without being premium and alienating. We brought more ‘warmth’ and introduced signature experience zones to appeal to families with kids. The visuals were designed to be vibrant, injecting energy into the retail experience.
Results
The initial pilot of the “Modern Value” redesign in Shenzhen was highly successful, not only in terms of shopper feedback but also in “like-for-like” store performance. The new retail experience has since been rolled out more broadly across China to new store openings and store redesigns.
Our project with Walmart won two gold awards at the 2020 Transform Awards Asia in the categories of “Best Localization of an International Brand” and “Best Visual Identity” from the retail sector.
