Walmart Rebrands Jet with City Consumer Focus

In a move to provide differentiated service in a growing sea of online shopping options, Walmart Inc. has rebranded Jet.com to offer a more convenient and personalized experience for city-dwelling consumers.

Beginning in New York City, with plans to roll out to additional cities, the company is offering a tailored product assortment featuring local brands and customized recommendations across grocery, home, fashion, beauty and electronics, as well as a “city grocery experience” with three-hour same-day and next-day delivery options.

“I am so excited to relaunch Jet to consumers today,” Simon Belsham, president of Jet, said in a statement. “As a retailer, we must build experiences that customers love and trust, backed by strong values. For Jet, this means offering a more tailored shopping experience combined with a unique assortment of great brands in a way that brings empathy back into e-commerce. This is only the beginning for Jet.”

Following its $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet in 2016, Walmart first revealed its plans to refocus Jet.com during its Shareholder’s Week events in May, where Belsham discussed his vision for a personalized e-commerce platform designed around curated grocery. With eyes on Amazon, the effort marks the beginning of the company’s new strategy to tap into its missed segment of urban shoppers while “rehumanizing” e-commerce to fit consumers’ individual needs.

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The refreshed website is designed to greet shoppers with iconic, localized imagery, like a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge, and messages on the homepage and throughout the site as well as offer product recommendations that prioritize shoppers’ preferences and timely re-order suggestions that predict needs to restock. Plus, iOS consumers can use voice activation to build shopping lists on Jet’s mobile app.

Jet’s new city grocery experience—enabled via its new Bronx Fulfillment center, which the company says will be completed this fall—offers New York City consumers three-hour scheduled delivery windows for groceries and products from local brands like Bedford Cheese Shop, Pat LaFrieda meats, and Orwashers Bakery.

Delivered exclusively via Parcel, the tech-enabled last-mile delivery company which Walmart acquired in 2017, orders will arrive in recyclable, insulated bags that guarantee freshness for up to three hours. Upon checkout, shoppers can add customized delivery options, like “leave the package with the doorman,” providing more convenient delivery accommodations.

The company said it will also be offering local and craft beer same-day and next-day delivery in the coming months.

“I’m personally thrilled with this evolution of Jet,” said Marc Lore, Jet founder and president and CEO of Walmart eCommerce US, in a statement. “It’s the next generation of shopping for city dwellers, and really brings the personality of their city and local favorites to life. And focusing Jet on customers in the major metro cities perfectly complements our overall e-commerce portfolio strategy.”

Jet also launched its “Our Carts are Different Here” campaign, created in partnership with Pereira O’Dell New York, to share the stories of urban shoppers via TV, OOH, audio, digital and social components. The campaign highlights the company’s focus on city-dwelling consumers as well as their unique shopping needs.