CorpComms Magazine

American supermarket chain Walmart has teamed up with Facebook to launch more than 3,500 store-specific Facebook pages.

The world's largest retailer is seeking to refine and localise its presence on the social networking site; Walmart already has more than nine million fans on its Facebook page.

To get local information from their store, Walmart  customers can click on www.facebook/Walmart  that will enable them to like their nearest stores. The company says that will allow shoppers to see specific offers, in-store events and new merchandise on their local page. The retailer says it will allow it to personalise offers for Facebook fans of local stores.

The company has also launched a My Local Walmart Facebook app which will aim to provide locally-relevant information on everything in its stores. It also allows shoppers to use social media to track exactly what's in their local stores and when.

'This allows us to make our stores relevant on a local level,' said Stephen Quinn, executive vice president of Walmart's US division, during a conference call. 'This addresses our 'next-generation' customers who are using a lot of social media. A national message is often not as relevant.'

Fans of local pages will get around two messages a week from their chosen store initially. The grocery store is making investments in e-commerce in a bid to compete with internet rivals including market leader Amazon.

Companies have been able to use Facebook 'likes' on their websites since April 2010

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