If there's something you want to buy, someone will provide about a million ways for you to do it. Aside from the obvious options of going into the store and ordering it online, there's everything from temporary pop-up shops and the hybrid in-store pickup option to buying it on Instagram. In 2020, Target (TGT) became the first big-box chain to make some of its products available to buy directly for those scrolling the social media platform.
Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have been tinkering with how its social media platforms should look and work.
But despite frequent changes (Instagram has wavered between names like Checkout and Instagram Shopping), the concept of buying things without going on the seller's site is rising fast -- McKinsey analysts estimated that while U.S. customers spent $37 billion on goods bought through social channels in 2021, that number should rise to over $80 billion by 2025.
While it has largely stayed off the direct shopping features available on other platforms, Walmart (WMT) is the latest major retailer to expand into this type of off-site shopping.
Send us Those Late-Night Texts, Walmart says
Earlier this month, the major retailer announced that it is launching a new "Text to Shop" feature that allows customers to buy items through a text message.
Shoppers can, while logged into their customer account, text a product they would like to buy to a special Walmart number either by describing a specific item or by texting a general word like "cookies" or "toilet paper" and having items they had bought or scrolled through come up as suggestions.
"Run out of protein powder making your morning smoothie? Text Walmart to add it to your cart," Walmart writes in a blog post announcing the new feature. "Hosting a few more people at the dinner table tonight than you originally planned? Text Walmart to quickly reorder the ingredients you need and schedule your pickup."
Those who use "Text To Shop" more than once will also be able to use a "Reorder" button to get similar products. Shoppers can either go from a text to their online account's cart or confirm that they want to buy it through the same thread. One can also, by texting the retailer, schedule deliveries or change and cancel orders within a certain window of time.
Earlier this year, Walmart also launched a "virtual fitting room" for trying on clothes online.
Walmart/TheStreet
These Big-Box Retailers Really Want You To Shop In 2023
As inflation and the overall state of the economy curbs some people's discretionary spending (at least without discounts or promotions), retailers are increasingly willing to meet customers wherever they are by making it as easy as possible to buy something and hack away at market share on platforms not being used by competitors.
"Shoppers can purchase items by watching Roku now," Cathy Hotka, the owner of a retail marketing firm, wrote underneath RetailWire's post on the new feature. "Like water seeking the lowest point, expect shopping to get still more convenient through the use of technology."
"I also suspect that Text to Shop is in its infancy. AI chatbots will remove any need for the default being a reorder," writes Ken Morris, a managing partner at Cambridge Retail Advisers. "This will become table stakes, just like BOPIS and curbside pickup emerged as such during the pandemic.
