5 ms·

I still don't get Walmart. So much fiscal might, so much capability to expand into full, well thought out, competitive online experience, yet they're barely co

I still don't get Walmart. So much fiscal might, so much capability to expand into full, well thought out, competitive online experience, yet they're barely competitive. It's almost like the Walmart family thinks this online thing is a fad, and growth/sales spiraling downward will turn around any day now, just you wait and see! I don't get it.

axaxs 5y ago
I don't want to say too much specifically...but I think whoever is responsible managing their entire 'online thing' is doing a poor job. No offense meant to anyone who works there. I spoke a while informally to someone who worked there. Sounded like a really smart person, and they were describing in detail how their team was writing this 'thing' from scratch, where thing is something numerous rock solid, fast, open source alternatives exist. Didn't seem like a good use of resources -at all- considering the sorry state of their web experience.
- kortex 5y ago
  Their whole online / app experience is a bit baffling, given the amount of revenue flowing through it. Search is terrible, inventory management is worse. Several times I've scanned a barcode of a pallet of things for a price check, only to get "No inventory in stock." Can't even get a hypothetical in-stock or online price. Other janky stuff I forget. Lowes' website is a trainwreck, just Inspect Page it... for starters there's "todo" comments. Home depot's experience is fantastic. But if you wanna see the reigning champ of "online thing," www.mcmaster.com
  - axaxs 5y ago
    Yeah, it's really bad. If an item is out of stock, it lets you get to check out before telling you, right when you place the order. It lets you put things in your cart that sell out. Putting things in your cart means nothing at all, apparently. Not sure if the last line was meant in jest, but I -really- dig that site. All info and pics, clear pricing. Perfect.
    - kortex 5y ago
      No jest at all. Depot and McMaster I'm quite happy with. Pardon the pun, McMaster-Carr is a masterclass in UX. I've always been amazed at how well their search works, how responsive and un-glitchy the site is. How you can have a cart while not logged in, then log in without a redirect or even a refresh or rerender. Exact same state, you're just now in a logged-in state. I don't know of many ecommerce sites that do that as seamlessly. It's also been this way for years. They were ahead of the game even back then.

axaxs 5y ago

I don't want to say too much specifically...but I think whoever is responsible managing their entire 'online thing' is doing a poor job. No offense meant to anyone who works there. I spoke a while informally to someone who worked there. Sounded like a really smart person, and they were describing in detail how their team was writing this 'thing' from scratch, where thing is something numerous rock solid, fast, open source alternatives exist. Didn't seem like a good use of resources -at all- considering the sorry state of their web experience.

kortex 5y ago
Their whole online / app experience is a bit baffling, given the amount of revenue flowing through it. Search is terrible, inventory management is worse. Several times I've scanned a barcode of a pallet of things for a price check, only to get "No inventory in stock." Can't even get a hypothetical in-stock or online price. Other janky stuff I forget. Lowes' website is a trainwreck, just Inspect Page it... for starters there's "todo" comments. Home depot's experience is fantastic. But if you wanna see the reigning champ of "online thing," www.mcmaster.com
- axaxs 5y ago
  Yeah, it's really bad. If an item is out of stock, it lets you get to check out before telling you, right when you place the order. It lets you put things in your cart that sell out. Putting things in your cart means nothing at all, apparently. Not sure if the last line was meant in jest, but I -really- dig that site. All info and pics, clear pricing. Perfect.
  - kortex 5y ago
    No jest at all. Depot and McMaster I'm quite happy with. Pardon the pun, McMaster-Carr is a masterclass in UX. I've always been amazed at how well their search works, how responsive and un-glitchy the site is. How you can have a cart while not logged in, then log in without a redirect or even a refresh or rerender. Exact same state, you're just now in a logged-in state. I don't know of many ecommerce sites that do that as seamlessly. It's also been this way for years. They were ahead of the game even back then.