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Walmart Helps Customers Ace Back-to-School and Back-to-College with More Tools to Make Shopping Faster and Easier

July 11, 2018

5 Min. Read

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BENTONVILLE, Ark. July 11, 2018 – According to Walmart customers, nearly one-third of parents want to avoid the stress of last-minute back-to-school shopping and almost half want to cash in on the seasonal savings. That’s why, today, Walmart announced its plans to help customers gain back time in a big way by launching new tools that make shopping for the new school year faster and easier. And with an eye on trend, the retailer is also launching more new items than ever before – at the best prices.

"Walmart has always been known for our low prices, but giving parents time back is also valuable currency when they’re deciding where to shop for all their back-to-school needs," said Scott Bayles, Walmart’s Dean of Back-to-Class. "With more convenient ways to shop than ever before, thousands of in-store events and some really cool, new items at unbelievable prices, Walmart has everything customers need to start the school year off with confidence, style and ease."

So what’s on the agenda to help Walmart customers go back big?

A Suite of New App and Online Tools for Parents, Teachers and Students Last year, Walmart integrated the popular resource TeacherLists into a dedicated online destination called School Supplies List that enabled parents to find and shop for their child’s specific classroom supply list on Walmart.com. New this year, Walmart is expanding the experience to the Walmart app where parents can search and shop for their child’s actual list and then use the app to locate the store aisle the item is in. Also new this year, customers will have the option to choose the products and brands from the school supplies list.

Walmart is also helping college students subtract the stress of outfitting their dorm room with a new way to shop online called Buy the Room. Available today, Buy the Room allows customers to add a group of items to their cart to shop a complete dorm look. Walmart will launch with nine curated collections that each feature up to 20 of the most sought-after items college students search for and purchase at the low prices Walmart is known for.

In stores and online, teachers will also find more ways to ensure that they are stocked up on their classroom supplies. Walmart is launching a new Teacher Shop on http://Walmart.com and a dedicated section in more than 2,100 stores that includes classroom décor items and supplies, like stickers, reward charts, dry erase boards, markers and more.

More Ways to Shop Without Leaving Your Car (or Home!) – Walmart customers love Online Grocery Pickup and Delivery. This year, more customers will be able to get their back-to-school shopping done without ever leaving their vehicle, since Walmart has made Online Grocery pickup available in twice as many stores as last year and has doubled the assortment of back-to-school and college products available during the season. And, for the first time, Walmart is offering Online Grocery Delivery as a convenient way to have these back-to-class items delivered directly to homes in dozens of markets, like Atlanta, Denver and Houston. In addition, the vast majority of back-to-class items are available for free two-day shipping on orders over $35 without a membership fee.

Pickup Makes Packing a Breeze – The nightmare of packing an entire dorm room into the back of a mini-van is over. This year, Walmart is making hundreds more back-to-class items available via Pickup, so parents and students can order all of their supplies and gear online and pick it up at the store closest to campus within seven days of ordering the item. How’s that for saving time – and headaches? Pickup will also be available for school supplies, offering parents a convenient way to get these items and other back-to-school essentials, like granola bars and new shoes, in one easy trip.

Beyond-the-Basics Assortment – Customers have always relied on Walmart to offer all of the basics but, this year, the retailer is getting extra credit for its new, on-trend assortment. Trending products like glow-in-the-dark and colored glue, paper from certified sustainable sources, FriXion Erasable pens, Rocketbook notebooks, emoji pencil cases and unicorn notebooks are just some of the many new products customers will find. All told, approximately 25 percent of the retailer’s school supply assortment is new.

A+ Prices All Season Long – As always, Walmart will offer incredible prices on school supplies, including 400+ items under $3 and hundreds more under $5. For example, customers will find Composition Notebooks for $.50, 100-Sheet Poly Notebooks for $.87 (Rollback from $1.47), 12-count Crayola Colored Pencils for $.97 (Rollback from $1.84), Crayon Boxes for $1 and 5-ounce Elmer’s Glue for $2.97. Walmart will also offer more than 30 exclusive bonus packs, like Sharpie Pocket Highlighters 4+2 for $2.24, Paper Mate Mechanical Pencils 20+6 for $2.97 and Bic Gel Pens 4+1 for $2.94.

But, before the bell rings, Walmart stores are offering events throughout the season to help communities rally for a fresh school year and go back big. Walmart is hosting its quarterly Walmart Wellness Days event July 21 so that parents and students can take advantage of low-cost immunizations, vision screenings in select locations and the opportunity to speak with a pharmacist in time to have their healthiest start to the school year. Walmart stores will also join in Tax Free Holidays and waive sales tax on certain items in participating states so customers can secure even more savings. Last but certainly not least, Walmart will host nearly 2,000 Beauty Demos with L'Oréal and Maybelline so customers can try out best-in-class beauty looks.

For more information, please visit http://news.walmart.com.

About Walmart
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, nearly 270 million customers and members visit our more than 11,700 stores under 65 banners in 28 countries and eCommerce websites. With fiscal year 2018 revenue of $500.3 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.

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