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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will soon be allowing customers of its UK-based Asda retail chain to tell it what to stock. Instead of the usual retail "you'll buy it since we ordered it" mentality, Asda will be e-mailing its customers with pictures and descriptions of items available to them from Far East suppliers for feedback. In a word, this is a paradigm shift for retailing.
The idea of real-time (or near-to-it, anyway) feedback from consumers on product trends and other valuable data is an excellent one. It saves frustration from the consumer end and it allows for huge gains in merchandising productivity, inventory turns, and efficiency from the retailer's end. I hope this is successful for Asda, and that Wal-Mart carries the concept into more of its holdings throughout the globe.
Imagine if Wal-Mart were to send regular e-mail messages to U.S. customers asking them about what they purchase most and what they would like to see on store shelves -- and then made use of that information in buying decisions and allocation strategy. With consumer economic shifts and fickleness (and loyalty) being ever-changing variables, planning to hit as many consumers with what they want, how they want, and when they want it is the most powerful retail formula there is.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has done quite well with this advertising strategy on the web, so why not the world's largest retailer? Wal-Mart has the capability to do something incredibly innovative with this if it chooses to.
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