Here's a frequent situation for many organizations and, unfortunately for Walmart, an all-too-frequent response.

What happened?

Walmart took the voice of the customer too literally. Customers answered a Walmart survey and told Walmart that they would prefer less clutter in the stores. Their reaction? "Project Impact" - a major change in strategy and store customer experience - starting in 2008.

The result:

a $1.85 billon dollar customer experience mistake made by Walmart (a conservative estimate of lost revenue that does not include the hundreds of millions spent on remodeling stores) - Walmart revised their decades-old strategy of low price and wide selection - 15% of the inventory removed from the stores - 30% - some suppliers reported losing 30% of their stock in Walmart stores due to the revamp - Removed pallets of items like juice boxes or sweatshirts stacked in the centers of aisles. - Slimmed down merchandise on “end caps,” displays at the ends of aisles - Shortened shelves - Revamp not only removed items but cost "millions of dollars" per store in refurbishment costs Source / full article here: http://dailyartifacts.com/walmarts-185-billon-dollar-mistake

The lesson? There's a difference between what customers say vs. what they do. Understanding the difference can lead to innovation...not understanding it can hit your bottom line, hard.