Walmart Inc. has been pouring investment into its ecommerce website operation for years in an effort to catch up with Amazon.com Inc. Now, it’s trying to boost its appeal with a new online look.

A revamp of Walmart’s website and app, unveiled Monday, seeks to highlight a selection of goods and cut down on clutter. The goal is to entice shoppers with items they weren’t necessarily looking for instead of offering a utilitarian framework for consumers who already know what they want.

The Walmart ecommerce website homepage, as of April 3, 2023.

With the redesign, the Walmart ecommerce website seeks “to curate an experience when customers walk through our doors, whether they’re physical doors or digital,” said Tom Ward, the retailer’s U.S. ecommerce chief, in an interview.

That means taking a page out of the brick-and-mortar playbook with a greater emphasis on seasonal products and hot new sales trends, Ward said. Walmart is also trying to focus more eyeballs on its online offerings and growing marketplace of third-party sellers. It will do so by providing “a more engaging way to browse,” as Ward said in a statement on the company’s website.

Walmart’s U.S. ecommerce revenue has expanded at an 11% to 12% clip during the last two years. The online business accounted for almost 13% of U.S. revenue last year. That’s up from 12% the year before, according to a recent regulatory filing.

Walmart is America’s largest overall retailer. It is No. 2 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000, trailing only Amazon in annual ecommerce sales. The Top 1000 ranks North America’s largest online retailers by web sales.

Walmart ecommerce sales

In a call with Wall Street analysts following its most recent earnings announcement, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said ecommerce represents 13% of Walmart’s total global sales. Walmart said its digital sales rose 17% year over year in the fourth quarter.

In February, Walmart announced it would sell outdoor gear retailer Moosejaw Mountaineering to Dick’s Sporting Goods. It was the latest instance at the time of Walmart unwinding ecommerce-focused acquisitions it made from 2016 to 2018.

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