Cross-functional partnership case study · Walmart eCommerce · 2019 to 2020
Org Merger: Walmart Stores and eCommerce
Employee communications strategy for Walmart's omni-channel integration, a merger of eCommerce and store merchandising organizations that had operated as separate entities since Walmart.com launched in 2000. Six months of research, focus groups, and sustained communications leading to a successful integration on schedule.
- Company
- Walmart eCommerce
- Scale
- ~6,000 merchants total, 2,400 eCommerce merchandisers directly served
- Duration
- December 2019 to August 2020
- My role
- eCommerce comms lead
The situation
Walmart's store and eCommerce merchandising teams had operated separately since Walmart.com launched in 2000. The integration brought approximately 6,000 merchants into one buying organization, with different systems, processes, and language to reconcile. I led communications for the 2,400 eCommerce merchandisers I directly served.
The integration took place in 2020 during COVID. Employees were adjusting to remote work while absorbing a major organizational change. With large meetings fully remote and fewer informal opportunities to ask questions, written communications needed to be clear and complete.
The research phase
I started running focus groups with eCommerce merchandisers before the public announcement. Over approximately five months I ran 15 to 20 focus groups. Employees consistently asked for plain language, honest answers about what was changing, and practical guidance on tools and processes.
What I built
Working with a knowledge base specialist and a cross-functional team, I built the communications infrastructure for the eCommerce side of the integration. That included a knowledge base site built around tools and language standardization, executive messaging and editorial calendars, sustained employee communications across multiple channels, and monthly org-wide meetings with 300 attendees covering tool updates and process changes.
What I'd do differently
I'd plan earlier for employees to get information and ask questions remotely. COVID added that need to an already complex integration, and we had to adapt as we went.
The broader lesson
Employees still needed tool updates and process guidance after the announcement. The knowledge base, sustained communications, and monthly meetings gave us places to keep sharing that information throughout the integration.