Last week, Walmart closed-up-shop on its white glove “text-to-shop” service that was piloted in NYC and Brooklyn. Newmine CMO, John McKinven provided some insights to Adweek on why the service was likely doomed from the start:
What’s more, John McKinven, CMO of retail consulting firm Newmine, said it’s easy to downscale brands, but “almost impossible” to upscale them. Look no further than Volkswagen’s ill-fated luxury model, Phaeton, for example.
“Appealing to and building a new demo base takes a fresh start with a unique product,” he added. “The intersection of a business built on cost-cutting efficiency does not mix well culturally or operationally with a bespoke service that necessarily ignores efficiency.”