Walmart gets back in on the action

Action Alley — branded feature displays and four-sided fixtures in the main aisles — marked its return to all Walmart stores this past holiday season, and signified Walmart’s return to promotional intensity.


“Action Alley is a characteristic communication to our customers,” said Bill Simon, Walmart U.S. president and CEO, last year. “It’s how we talk to them. Other competitors have other things — discount cards, loyalty cards, double coupons. For us, Action Alley is an important piece of who we are because it tells the customer what we believe is important, and it adds that element of excitement that says that this is a Walmart store.”


Action Alley proved to be a significant factor in Walmart’s increase of 8.2% in inventory for its fiscal year ended Jan. 28. Coupled with a similar return to increased assortments, these two initiatives contributed approximately 120 basis points of the total growth for the year, Simon told investors in February.