Walmart Introduces Goodies Co. to Deliver Delicious to Your Front Door

SAN BRUNO, Calif., Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Walmart (NYSE: WMT) today announced the launch of Goodies Co., a monthly food subscription service for consumers to savor delectable foods and discover new items. For only $7 a month, including tax and shipping, subscribers receive a gift box at their doorstep filled with five to eight hand-picked taster samples ranging from healthy and organic to artisan and ethnic.  The new Goodies Co. box, created by @WalmartLabs, underscores Walmart's commitment to e-commerce and its use of social innovations to create new offerings for consumers.

Goodies Co. has been in a private beta test for the last few months with over 3,000 users across the United States.  Each month, treats are arranged into a thematic selection such as "Flavors around the World," and "Trick-or-Treat Sweets" for Halloween.  November's Thanksgiving theme is "Easy Entertaining" complete with gourmet foods such as wine biscuits, pumpkin souffle mix, dark chocolate infused Quinoa bars, and white cheddar popcorn among others. The delectables arrive in a gift box with a colorful information card that describes each food in detail.

"We continue to experiment with new offerings to delight our customers and leave them with a smile," said Ravi Raj, vice president of products @WalmartLabs.  "With Goodies Co., subscribers have the pleasure of opening a box filled with delicious treats every month that they like or may never have tried before.  Great value combined with a community of food lovers and the sheer surprise of what a box might hold makes Goodies Co. a compelling offering."

"The Goodies Co. box is packed with high-quality foods that I would not have found elsewhere at a price that is unmatched," said Jason Coleman of Gadsden, Alabama, a Goodies Co. beta tester who hosts a food video podcast at BevNerd.com. "The themes make me look forward to opening my Goodies box to discover what is inside every month.  It's a great way to taste and experience new foods in a fun and healthy way." 

Sign Up, Pricing and Social Community

Users can sign up for the service at www.goodies.co.  After they sign up their name is placed in line to receive an invitation to join the Goodies community.  Once an invite is received and the user completes the subscription, they can receive their first Goodies Co. box within weeks. The service is $7 a month including taxes and shipping and is available in the continental United States.

Unlike current offerings, Goodies Co. is the first to offer a large assortment of products for a total price that is almost half of the total value of the items if they were purchased separately.  The total price for all of the items in the November box would be approximately $15 compared to the Goodies Co. $7 price. When subscribers discover a product they love, they can purchase full-size versions right from the Goodies Co. website. 

Goodies Co. creates a social community online where subscribers can post reviews to earn loyalty points.  These points can be redeemed in the future for boxes or items in the store.

Goodies Co. is the latest in a series of innovations from @WalmartLabs. In the last year, the group has unveiled Polaris, a search engine built from the ground up and used on Walmart.com; Shopycat, a social gift finder; Classrooms by Walmart, a program to make back-to-school shopping easer; Get on the Shelf, a crowdsourcing contest to unearth new products for Walmart; and Social Media Analytics, tools that use social chatter to select items to be carried by Walmart.

For Goodies Co. images, visit
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2153017/WalmartLabs/WalmartLabsGoodiesCoImages.zip
For Goodies Co. movie visit
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2153017/WalmartLabs/WalmartLabsGoodiesCoVideo.zip (high-res)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2153017/WalmartLabs/GoodiesCoWeb-WM-FINAL.mp4.zip (low-res)

About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, more than 200 million customers and members visit our 10,300 stores under 69 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries. With fiscal year 2012 sales of approximately $444 billion, Walmart employs more than 2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmartnewsroom. Online merchandise sales are available at http://www.walmart.com and http://www.samsclub.com.

SOURCE Walmart