Empowering Customers to Reduce Food Waste Through Optimised Merchandising

Walmart is dedicated to becoming a regenerative company, striving to place nature and humanity at the center of its business practices. As part of this commitment, Walmart partnered with The Consumer Goods Forum’s Food Waste Coalition, supported by UNEP funding, to pilot a new approach to managing near-expiry food. The project aimed to reduce food waste and maximize sell-through in the Fresh Bakery department by combining digital customer education with an optimized in-store pricing and display strategy.

The Challenge

While Walmart implements waste reduction practices across its supply chain, a significant opportunity remains to address waste at the household level. The objective was to nudge consumer behavior toward purchasing near-expiry items—often bypassed due to quality perception or date label confusion—by improving how these products are merchandised and perceived.

Strategic Approach

The pilot utilised a dual-channel strategy to engage customers both online and in-store:

• Digital Engagement: During the pilot, Walmart launched a public-facing corporate communications page focused on food waste education. This hub featured recipes for using surplus ingredients, tips for extending shelf life in the fridge, and guidance on understanding date labels.
• In-Store Activation: Testing was conducted at over 100 stores, consolidating discounted items into dedicated, high-visibility fixtures (e.g., island fixtures and bread wall). The pilot introduced clearer “Save Some Dough” signage to signal value and freshness rather than simply “clearance”.

Key Customer Insights

Research conducted to inform the pilot revealed that customers are highly receptive to waste-reduction programs when barriers to purchase are removed:

• High Engagement: Approximately 38% of Walmart Fresh shoppers regularly purchase discounted (CVP) items.
• Category Leadership: Fresh Bakery is the primary entry point for these shoppers, with 47% purchasing discounted items from this department.
• Merchandising Preference: Approximately 85% of customers prefer having near-expiry items pulled aside into a dedicated section rather than mixed with regular-priced inventory.

Pilot Results

The transition to dedicated, modularized “homes” for near-expiry bakery items yielded positive results compared to control groups where markdowns remained decentralized.

• Improved Performance: The test stores saw some improvement in sales and unit velocity for near-expiry items, versus control stores in the region.
• Operational Efficiency: In some cases, centralized markdowns and displays could simplify processes, improve inventory management, and reduce food diverted to organic waste bins or landfill.

Consumer Sentiment

Customer feedback validated the “Save Some Dough” approach. Shoppers indicated a preference for high-traffic placement (such as near checkouts) to drive impulse purchases and expressed a desire for more information, with 57% stating they would use QR codes on labels to learn about Walmart’s sustainability efforts.

As one customer noted regarding the initiative: “I love the practice of sustainable efforts that Walmart is taking to ensure that there is as little food waste as possible.”

Related Efforts: Standardisation

Beyond the pilot, Walmart continues to drive industry-wide systems change by encouraging its suppliers to standardise date labeling. This includes the adoption of “Best If Used By” for quality and “Use By” for safety, simplifying the decision-making process for customers determining if food is still good to consume.

Acknowledgements

We are pleased to acknowledge the United Nations Environment Programme and the US Environmental Protection Agency for their support and guidance in producing this case study.