Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

The newness of the Walmart trial (it just started last week in Philly, Virginia and Minneapolis, while California isn’t slated to start until early November, said Walmart spokesperson Ashley Hardie) is showing itself with a few site issues that could use more thinking through.

When placing an order, the site tells shoppers—without explanation—that the “final cost is determined at the time your items are packed. If you change your delivery time, your prices may change as well.”

Given that Walmart said the $10 flat-fee shipping is without exception and that prices are the same as on the site, it’s a perplexing utterance.

One customer service representative said he was also confused by the wording, as the pricing is indeed final long before the items are packed. The “change your delivery time” and “your prices may change” part, though, the rep said, was illustrative of “system limitations.”

The system, he explained, doesn’t have to deliver things same day, and some shoppers may ask for a product to be delivered weeks later. The price will remain locked, he said, unless the user changes something—even something as minor as changing a preferred 4:00 PM–8:00 PM delivery window to a 6:00 PM:ndash;10:00 PM window. Let’s say that the product’s price increased after the order was placed. As soon as anything in the order changes, the system loses whatever price locks it had and simply grabs the current price. That still doesn’t explain the “at the time your items are packed” reference, but at least it addresses the second sentence.

Speaking of customer service, that’s another part of the site that could be cleaned up a bit. The Walmart same-day shipping site—a.k.a. Walmart ToGo—invites shoppers with questions about the service to call an toll-free 800 customer service number. This is the site telling shoppers with questions to call that number. But the outgoing message tells customers with questions about the program to push 1. If they do that, though, it’s simply a recording telling them that questions can be answered on the Web site. And it then hangs up.

There is a trick to it, though. If the shopper with questions simply ignores the prompt and selects 2, which is only supposed to be for shoppers with questions about an active order, the shopper will be connected with a customer service rep. (And, from our experience, some really good ones, who are able to answer those questions.)

The site has items that are confusing but more understandable. A box shows the minimum required amount for an order, even though this trial has no such limit. It’s there because the existing grocery trial does have a minimum dollar limit, Walmart’s Hardie said.