Walmart, recently made a big move!

Recently, Shenzhen Shekou Walmart reopened in the form of a “Ma Shu Store.” This is not only Walmart’s first innovative retail experience space in collaboration with Xiaohongshu but also marks a key step forward in product integration, scene reconstruction, and brand renewal.

01

“Ma Shu Store” is here

As the Spring Festival approaches, supermarkets have become lively and festive, with decorations and products full of holiday spirit. Recently, this Walmart in Shenzhen Shekou took advantage of the peak sales season during the Spring Festival to reopen in the form of a “Ma Shu Store.” Leveraging the partnership with Xiaohongshu, the supermarket has undergone brand-new changes in both products and experience.

△Consumers are praising their favorite “treasure new products.”

“It feels suddenly more trendy.” For Shenzhen consumer Ms. Zhao, the new look of Walmart Shekou store was eye-catching: various decorative elements from Walmart and Xiaohongshu, colorful interactive zones, and unique product displays all made this 25-year-old store stand out. “Especially some new products, I want to buy and try them.” In the interactive area of the “Treasure New Product Island,” Ms. Zhao gave a thumbs-up sticker to “Wojixian. Babo Win Mahjong Cookies,” hoping for good luck in the new year.

This “Ma Shu Store” is an innovative experience store jointly created by Walmart and Xiaohongshu. It is reported that the store breaks through traditional category display logic, creating eight interest islands guided by “customer interest cognition.” Each interest island revolves around a core lifestyle interest point, using immersive experience layouts and creative interactions to seamlessly embed content that customers are interested in into offline physical scenes, providing a new shopping experience of “discovery inspiration—immersive experience—convenient purchase” with seamless integration and circulation. This accelerates “planting” ideas and makes shopping more fun and rewarding.

△Consumers are participating in Xiaohongshu photo check-in activities inside the store.

Chinese business reporters noted that within ten days of opening, the store has become a popular check-in spot on Xiaohongshu, with notes containing keywords like “Ma Shu Store check-in,” “Ma Shu Store lottery,” “fun and delicious” emerging frequently. “I was just ‘planted’ by Xiaohongshu notes,” said Shenzhen consumer Xiao Qin, who visited the “Ma Shu Store” several times with friends. She said that not only are there many new products to taste, but the various interactive activities are also very interesting, and there are handsome NPCs appearing. “Walmart no longer feels like the traditional supermarket I remember; it’s very ‘internet vibe.’”

The “internet vibe” Xiao Qin feels is one of the features of this Walmart-Xiaohongshu collaboration. As Walmart’s own brand “Wojixian” continues to innovate with new products, Xiaohongshu has become an important platform for user feedback on product experience. “I often browse Xiaohongshu, read reviews about Walmart from netizens, and then discuss with my team,” said Zhu Jun, Senior Vice President of Walmart China and Chief Procurement Officer of Walmart Formats. He described the collaboration as “a natural fit” and added, “This partnership was an instant match for both sides.”

△Consumers are tasting products.

According to Zhu Jun, this cooperation is based on the strategic consensus of Walmart’s “Customer First” and Xiaohongshu’s “Your Lifestyle Interest Community,” aiming to respond to the profound shift in customer purchasing decisions toward “high value, interest exploration, and emotional resonance.” Both parties will deeply integrate Walmart’s rich front-end customer insights, strong product development capabilities, and comprehensive global supply chain system with Xiaohongshu’s vibrant content ecology, trend capturing, and emotional resonance capabilities to meet customers’ multi-dimensional needs for higher quality, greater trust, and emotional connection.

“Over the past year, Walmart’s search volume and interest group size in the Xiaohongshu community have grown rapidly and are very popular,” said Xiaohongshu’s CMO Zhi Heng. “This collaboration can turn online ‘wishing’ into offline ‘realization,’ transforming user insights on Xiaohongshu into tangible ‘treasure products,’ and turning offline stores into spaces full of life inspiration.”

“Walmart looks forward to expanding more cooperation areas with Xiaohongshu in the future to explore new possibilities for serving customers,” Zhu Jun added.

02

Walmart’s Self-Innovation

As Zhi Heng mentioned, even before the collaboration, Walmart had already gained popularity on Xiaohongshu, especially with its own brand Wojixian series products.

Walmart’s private brand “Wojixian” embodies the concept of “freshness through simplicity,” aiming to meet customers’ needs for health, quality life, and stable value for money through simple ingredients, fresh raw materials, fresh origins, and fresh experiences. Searching for “Wojixian 2025 Red List Must-Buy,” “Wojixian Must-Buy Snack List,” or “Wojixian New Product Collection” on Xiaohongshu reveals various shopping guides. Comments like “I can’t keep up with Wojixian’s update speed” or “I didn’t expect Wojixian’s product selection to be so good” are common. For a retail brand that has been deeply rooted in the Chinese market for 30 years, this represents a profound “self-innovation.”

△Wojixian strawberries are quite popular.

“Since I bought a bottle of Wojixian 4.0 pure milk for 9.9 yuan, I just can’t stop,” said Shenzhen consumer Li Mu. She believes Wojixian has changed her shopping experience at Walmart: “There are many new products, and the update speed is very fast. Xiaohongshu also has various pairing notes.” She added that due to its rich aroma, smooth taste, and high cost-performance ratio, Wojixian 4.0 pure milk is one of the recommended ingredients for homemade recipes like milk tea, lattes, and bread on Xiaohongshu.

Besides 4.0 pure milk, other popular products on Xiaohongshu include high-calcium original flavor shrimp sticks, black chocolate oatmeal Dunden, and sliced bacon, with the product list continuously updating. “High cost-performance + delicious” has become a new label for Wojixian series products, embodying Walmart’s corporate mission of “spending less, living better.”

“‘Customer First’ is the starting point of all Walmart strategies and actions. We are committed to responding to genuine customer needs with differentiated products, trust, and convenient omnichannel shopping experiences,” Zhu Jun said. He explained that the Wojixian product development team adjusts products based on actual consumer feedback. For example, the initial Wojixian 4.0 pure milk was priced at 9.9 yuan per bottle, with a 1L size, but many consumers felt one bottle was too large to finish, so a mini version of 250ml×10 bottles was launched. “Some customers also think that a box of 10 bottles of cilantro-flavored yogurt is a bit much, so we are considering further adjustments and launching smaller bottles.”

Following a “customer demand-oriented” development approach, Wojixian has upgraded and launched over 1,000 products in the past year. The collaboration with Xiaohongshu is also a further exploration of customer needs.

△The slogan “Ma Shu Over the New Year” is everywhere.

It is reported that on the product level, Walmart and Xiaohongshu have established a “integrated consumer insight and collaborative product R&D” co-creation model, with Wojixian leading the implementation. This allows customers’ “planting” trends on Xiaohongshu to be easily obtained at Walmart with peace of mind, high quality, and good value.

Currently, nearly 20 co-branded products are on the market, covering core categories such as baking, dairy, health drinks, and snacks, characterized by “extremely simple ingredients, globally selected ingredients, unique shapes, and innovative ideas.”

“Of course, while most co-branded products are very popular as expected, some ‘dark horses’ have exceeded our expectations,” Zhu Jun said. The 10L “big beer” priced at 69.9 yuan unexpectedly became a hit. Besides the very cost-effective unit price of 6.99 yuan/L, many netizens posted photos with the big beer on Xiaohongshu, holding, carrying, and posing with it. The practicality for holiday gatherings helped it quickly go viral.

△The 10L “big beer” is one of the most eye-catching products.

“Partnering with Xiaohongshu has opened a new path for retail product development,” said industry insiders. Previously, retail product development relied on digital AI tools, but methods for collecting consumer needs remained traditional. Xiaohongshu’s social platform adds marketing value for retail companies. This “Ma Shu” collaboration marks a new phase of system-level integration between retail and content ecology, validating the possibility of driving product innovation and shopping experience reconstruction through deep customer insights.

03

The path of transformation continues

In fact, in recent years, Walmart’s formats have been quietly upgrading and transforming.

Previously, Walmart refocused on its customer base, abandoning the “big and comprehensive” approach for all customers, and instead focusing on urban middle-class consumers, establishing three strategic directions centered on “differentiated product strength, trust, and omnichannel convenience.” Using Wojixian as a starting point is an important step in Walmart’s transformation journey.

△Consumers are purchasing prepared foods.

By 2025, the entire supermarket industry is expected to be in a “battle” over private brands. Leading national supermarket chains like Wumart, Yonghui, and RT-Mart have announced their own brand strategies, starting their own brand upgrades. While each has its own特色, the overall pursuit remains improving quality and offering better prices.

Walmart is no exception. Compared to other supermarkets launching new brands, Walmart chose to upgrade its existing private brand Wojixian. Upholding the brand理念 of “Simple for Fresh, Wojixian,” Wojixian’s distinct features of simple ingredients, fresh raw materials, fresh origins, and fresh experiences have made it Walmart’s most “outstanding” label in 2025.

△Consumers are shopping for flowers.

While driving product upgrades with Wojixian, Walmart is also strengthening omnichannel development.

On one hand, starting from 2024, Walmart will increase investment in store upgrades and explore new store formats, including community stores. By 2025, community stores will become an important format for Walmart’s expansion in Guangdong. These stores, about 500 square meters, focus on high-quality, cost-effective products for three meals a day, with the core features of “small, refined, close” (small size, curated high-quality products, close to the community), creating a “good life at your doorstep” for urban middle-class consumers. Currently, they are being scaled up in Shenzhen.

On the other hand, in December last year, Walmart’s official app was launched, further promoting its omnichannel strategy through fulfillment methods like Express Delivery, On-Time Delivery, Citywide Delivery, Nationwide Delivery, and Global Shopping.

With these measures, Walmart’s transformation journey continues. Zhu Jun said that in the future, Walmart will keep focusing on upgrading and transforming, responding to customer needs with the times, increasing investment in store renovation and omnichannel development, and through better products and stronger experiences, reshaping the Walmart brand and making it the first choice for omnichannel shopping.