Wal-Mart customers to vote on what products are stocked

Wal-Mart customers will be able to vote on what products the retail giant stocks as part of a new initiative due to launch in the autumn.

Shoppers will be able to vote on non-perishables in an effort to empower customers and ensure it stocks the right products. The customers to vote will be chosen from Wal-Mart’s Pulse of the Nation pool – a group of 18,000 consumers that the retailer frequently polls on a variety of issues.

International chief marketing officer Rick Bendel said buyers will email a picture of a product to 1,000 customers who will vote on whether Wal-Mart should start selling it.