Personal shoppers have often been known to work closely with customers to deliver items that meet their needs and preferences, and nowadays many choose to utilize this form of shopping.
In fact, Walmart has been listed among popular stores that utilize personal shoppers. However, some customers still ask: what is a Walmart personal shopper? If you’d like to find out, keep reading!
What Is A Walmart Personal Shopper In 2024?
A Walmart personal shopper is an associate that picks customer’s orders, locates the items, and assembles them in ‘Pick-up Today’ designated areas in 2024. Typically, a customer places their order online under the ‘Pick-up Today’ section and gets notified once they assemble the items ordered. This way, customers don’t have to walk through the aisle.
If you’d like more information on Walmart personal shoppers, what they do, their duties, hourly rates and more, keep reading for more interesting facts!
What Do Walmart Personal Shoppers Do?
With the surge of online shopping, a Walmart personal shopper helps customers assemble their orders and packs them for curbside pickups or home deliveries.
With this method, customers can shop faster without having to pick their items from Walmart’s shelves, with the home delivery option being convenient for those who don’t own a vehicle or who have to look after family members.
What Are The Duties Of A Personal Shopper At Walmart?
The duties and responsibilities assigned to a Walmart personal shopper include the following:
- Processing orders placed by online shoppers
- Communicating with the customer via live chat, telephone calls, or emails in order to receive correct online orders.
- Advising customers on substitutes for unavailable or discontinued products
- Ensuring that customers’ orders are selected accurately, scanned, and packed properly
- Reporting challenges such as inferior products and supply shortage to the management
- Assisting with the packaging of the assembled orders
- Facilitating the curbside collection of orders, loading, and payments, where applicable
- Collaborating with departments in ensuring fast and efficient deliveries of online orders
How Do Walmart Personal Shoppers Work?
Walmart personal shoppers work to enhance the online shopping experience by assembling items either ordered through the “Pick-up Today” program or meant for home deliveries.
Once a customer orders eligible items through “Pick-Up Today” and gets confirmation of the order, a personal shopper is assigned to the order.
Since the orders are to be picked the same day (as the name suggests), personal shoppers work promptly to assemble the item on the order sheet within hours.
Once all items are assembled and packed, Walmart sends a notification to the customer to alert them that the order is ready for pick-up.
Alternatively, if you requested to have the order at your home address, Walmart will ensure a completed delivery.
How Many Hours Does A Walmart Personal Shopper Work?
Walmart personal shoppers can work 8-10 hours a day of picking online orders and dispensing them to the curbside or preparing them for home deliveries.
However, since the Walmart personal shoppers can work on a full-time basis or part-time basis depending on availability, the number of hours per worker may vary.
Additionally, Walmart personal shoppers get 30min-1hour unpaid lunch breaks alongside two paid 15-minute breaks scheduled in each shift.
What Do Walmart Personal Shoppers Make?
Walmart personal shoppers earn an average wage of $13 per hour, which is higher than Walmart’s minimum wage of $11 per hour.
Walmart pays a higher wage for personal shoppers due to reports of the position being more high-pressure and physically taxing than the regular retail sales associate job.
Additionally, Walmart tries to invest deeply in personal shoppers in a bid to increase the efficiency of online shopping and compete with giant online retailers such as Amazon.
What Does A Walmart Online Shopper Do?
Walmart online shoppers (also referred to as the e-commerce personal shoppers) are responsible for ensuring that a customer’s online order is fulfilled and made ready for pick up.
Generally, Walmart online shoppers fulfill online orders by reviewing confirmed orders, locating and packaging the items.
In order to ensure quality and accuracy, Walmart online shoppers have to countercheck packed orders prior to pick-up by customers.
Moreover, the shoppers are responsible for consulting with customers during pick up and making substitutions if need be.
Additionally, if a preferred item is unavailable, the online shopper can list alternatives for customers to choose from.
Online shoppers are also required to liaise with management in keeping the stores’ inventory up to date.
What Is The Age Requirement To Be A Walmart Personal Shopper?
A Walmart personal shopper can be as young as 16 years of age, since Walmart’s company policy dictates employees minimum age as 16 years.
What Skills Do You Need To Be A Walmart Personal Shopper?
As a Walmart personal shopper, you should have top-notch communication and great customer service skills.
In addition, you have to pay attention to orders to avoid making mistakes, such as forgetting key items on the customers’ shopping list.
Furthermore, you should have the ability to prioritize tasks, manage your time effectively, and be fast and efficient.
Additional skills ideal for a personal shopper include:
- Previous experience in the retail industry
- Ability to multitask in a busy work environment
- Be able to work independently and as part of a team
- Ability to resolve customer issues calmly for maximum customer satisfaction
- Be able to carry and lift items, and to walk or stand for extended hours
- Willingness to work at irregular hours, especially during busy shopping periods
How Much Does Walmart Charge For Personal Shoppers?
If you decide to pick up your online order at Walmart by curbside pick-up, Walmart doesn’t charge any amount to pack your order and bring it to your vehicle.
However, if you request for delivery of items packed by personal shoppers, the delivery fee may vary depending on the booking time, and is normally indicated at checkout.
To find out more, you can also see our posts on whether or not Walmart is an ethical company, Walmart associates vehicle purchase program, and Walmart asset protection associates.
Conclusion
A Walmart personal shopper is a store associate who fulfills online orders from customers. Personal shoppers ensure that all items in the order are picked, scanned, packaged, and assembled for either pick-up or delivery to the customer’s home address.