Walmart unveiled plans to bolster shopping experiences by launching new customer-focussed retail technologies with the use of artificial intelligence, generative AI, and augmented reality.
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Walmart introduced a new GenAI-powered search tool that is now available to iOS users, which enables customers to search by specific use cases, generating relevant, cross-category results.
It is utilising artificial intelligence (AI) said Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Walmart Inc. in its ‘Walmart InHome Replenishment’ service to make sure customers’ shopping carts include the correct items and delivered to the right location.
Walmart also presented its beta social commerce platform ‘Shop with Friends’ that will leverage augmented reality (AR) technology, allowing customer to share virtual outfits with friends and get feedback.
Doug McMillon, President and CEO at Walmart Inc. emphasised the company’s focus on prioritising customer needs: “We build technology to serve people and not the other way around.
“Walmart’s purpose is to help people live better and, today, more than ever, advances in technology make it feel like anything is possible.
“Our technology roadmap is compelling and we’re very excited about it, but we’re clear that we are a people-led, tech-powered company.
“People, our customers and associates, come first and we’ll put technology to work to serve them better than ever.”
AI was also exploited by Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart, which is releasing a new, ‘first-of-its-kind’ application to assist receipt verification when exiting the club.
Walmart even announced it is nearing its goal of providing customers with their items as quickly as 30 minutes after receiving their order by bringing drone delivery services to an additional 1.8 million households in the Dallas Fort-Worth metroplex. It reports that 75 percent of the 120,000 goods available in a Supercentre are deliverable by drone.
Suresh Kumar, Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer at Walmart Inc., spoke about its ambition to offer ‘adaptive retail’:
“While omnichannel retail has been around for decades, this new type of retail – adaptive retail – takes it a step further.
“It’s retail that is not only eCommerce or in-store, but a single, unified retail experience that seamlessly blends the best aspects of all channels. And for Walmart, adaptive retail is rooted in a clear focus on people.”
As well as revealing technologies to improve its customer experiences, Walmart is providing the same experiential upgrade to its 2.1 million associates worldwide. In August last year, it launched a GenAI tool called ‘My Assistant’ for U.S. and Canada campus-based associates. It is now planning to release My Assistant to associates in 11 countries, who will be able to interact with the application in their native language.
Finally, Walmart is seeking to develop ‘tech for good’ that helps society by reducing its environmental impact. Already, 47 percent of its operations are powered by renewable energy, which is on course to grow to 50 percent by 2025 and 100 percent by 2035.
CX Today’s Charlie Mitchell spoke to Julian Hertzog, Head of Sales at babelforce this week about the forces shaping customer experience and why they matter.
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