Walmart to host holiday parties at stores as battle with Amazon ramps up this season

How do you beat Amazon this holiday season? Roll out the deals, ramp up the convenience, and throw a party. Lots of parties.    

That's Walmart's game plan to attract shoppers who are expected to spend more this holiday season than they did last year and continue their shift to increasingly shopping online.

The world's biggest retailer is aiming to make the most of its more than 4,700 stores. Shoppers who get off the couch and venture out will not only get the chance to take selfies with Santa but can get assistance from Walmart's holiday helpers.

While the holiday assistants were also on hand last year, they will take on the additional tasks this year of helping customers pick up gifts they've ordered from Walmart.com, guiding them through the store's busiest sections, and even steering them to the shortest line when they're ready to check out.

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For the first time, Walmart will also host more than 20,000 holiday parties at its Supercenters. The first fetes, kicking off Saturday will have catalogs and stickers so the littlest shoppers can note what they want to find under the tree.

"We're doubling down on our in-store experience,’’  Tony Rogers, chief marketing officer, Walmart U.S., said in a briefing with media.

Walmart, second only to Amazon when it comes to its share of the toy market, is trying to maintain that edge during a season when dolls, games and gadgets are top of mind, and in the wake of its rival Toys R Us filing for bankruptcy protection in September.

More children will be able to play with toys right in a Walmart store. The number of toys available online will double, and of the thousands of holiday deals that will start rolling out this weekend, more than 400 of them will be for toys.

“It’s one of those important departments for us,'' says Steve Bratspies, chief merchandising officer, Walmart U.S., adding that hosting a larger array of toy events this season is a key way to interact with customers.

The retailer's two other party themes will focus on holiday entertaining and the most popular presents this season. It will feature 165,000 product demonstrations at its stores through the holidays. 

Walmart is the latest retailer to announce its plans to woo shoppers in what is typically the most lucrative time of the year for the industry. Consultancy Deloitte is forecasting that retail sales, not counting cars and gasoline, will rise 4% to 4.5% from November to January, leading to revenue of between $1.04 trillion to $1.05 trillion.

In-store purchases will still be the vast majority of sales, but online sales will continue to accelerate with Deloitte anticipating an increase of 18% to 21%, totaling $111 billion to $114 billion.