Walmart Change Initiative

Walmart Change Initiative
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Walmart Change Initiative
The United States e-commerce industry has been undergoing rapid growth driven by giants such as Amazon and Walmart. The industry reached its highest ever growth after the onset of the COVID-19 impacts which forced many consumers to rely on online shopping. According to Keyes (2020), Walmart is right at the center of this growth and the company is implementing various changes to ensure it reaps the benefits of this growth in the e-commerce industry. This change initiative is focused on Walmart’s nationwide order fulfillment services. Walmart’s momentum in the e-commerce industry commenced back in 2016. This momentum was jumpstarted by the acquisition of jet.com which was a newcomer in the online retail industry. The jet.com website was only a year old before its acquisition. The acquisition resulted in Walmart’s e-commerce growth by about 35% which outpaced the main competitor Amazon that only enjoyed a growth of approximately 25% in 2016 (Thompson, 2020). With the acquisition strategy working in 2016, Walmart repeated the same in 2017 by further acquiring Moosejaw.com and shoebuy.com which were also popular e-commerce companies. The double acquisitions in 2017 led to a 42.8% Walmart’s e-commerce sales increase. These rapid acquisitions have proved beneficial in Walmart’s sudden rise in the e-commerce industry. By 2020, the company had surpassed eBay to clinch the second position as the second titan in the U.S. e-commerce market. As reported by business insider the company is continuing to gain ground in the industry as its U.S. e-commerce sales were recorded to hit 97% in the company’s second-quarter (Q2) of its 2021 fiscal year (Keyes, 2020). This growth is anticipated to rise as more people continue getting used to the new normal of shopping online due to the pandemic. While the growth is beneficial to the company, it has exposed a challenge in the last mile delivery. The following change initiative is intended at revolutionizing Walmart’s nationwide last-mile delivery services to cater to the continued rapid growth of the company’s e-commerce sales.
As the General Manager of the recently opened Denvenport fulfillment store in Florida, I clearly understand the last mile challenge Walmart is experiencing in delivering products to customers. This change initiative will utilize John Kotter’s eight-step model of change implementation. The initiative will combine change recommendations with Kotter’s stages. The very first step of implementing change as recommended by Kotter’s mode is creating urgency. According to Kotter (2012), creating an environment where people are aware of an existing challenge creates a scenario where individuals are likely to support proposed changes. In other words, it is important to start with creating awareness of an issue before proposing changes. With the segmentation of feedback from customers, Denvenport fulfillment center has received several complaints of late orders. Being the general manager, I have created a store feedback forum where all associates can comment on the existing problem...