Wal-Mart’s new online storefront

Piers brought up MTV and Wal-Mart yesterday and it reminded me that Wal-Mart has a newly redesigned website up. It’s probably fair to say that most of you didn’t frequent the old one. But we may be seeing the first signs of influence by the New York Studio.

The new site is clean and well, pretty nice looking. Apparel is divided into easy to navigate categories. Coordinated items are suggested when you view an individual item giving you a sense that there is some fashion knowledge being imparted. Even the furniture section looks pretty good and if you squint, could be mistaken for West Elm. The new site is part of an plan to reverse a slip in sales. The site though seems to follow the path Wal-Mart charted to be more aesthetically sensitive.

From my view, the site will probably best serve urban markets where driving to the store isn’t as routine as the suburbs. Mass good retailers seem to still struggle with how to really integrate online shopping into their overall business. But you could almost imagine someone attempting a Fresh Direct style service for mass merchandise.