Walmart debuts Wally, a GenAI-powered assistant for Walmart merchants

Walmart is rolling out Wally, a GenAI-powered tool designed to be a productivity multiplier for its merchants. Built on Walmart’s proprietary data, Wally automates a variety of time-consuming processes, including:

• Data entry and analysis – Instantly generating insights from complex datasets.
• Root cause identification – Diagnosing why certain products are under- or overperforming.
• How-to support – Answering operational questions and raising tickets for unresolved issues.
• Advanced calculations – Automating complex formulas and predictions.

On a company post, Walmart said, “And because usability matters, Wally is designed to be intuitive, requiring no technical training. Merchants can simply ask questions and receive actionable insights in seconds. With AI removing the friction of manual reporting, our merchants can focus on what they do best: delivering the right products to customers, at the right time, and with greater efficiency than ever before."

Walmart noted that building an AI assistant for merchandising wasn’t straightforward. "Unlike traditional AI models trained on broadly available data, Walmart’s merchandising business has specific needs," the retailer said. "To bridge this gap, we built a semantic layer, enabling Wally to understand the intricacies of our proprietary data. Wally handles and processes large volumes of product data efficiently through advanced algorithms and a robust computational infrastructure."

[Read more: Pharmacy Innovator of the Year 2021: Walmart connects with communities] 

Walmart said that merchants’ response to Wally has been overwhelmingly positive, but the company added, "We’re just getting started. We’ll continuously improve the tool – guided by the feedback and needs of Walmart merchants – ultimately enabling it to act autonomously on the merchant’s behalf within configurable guardrails, executing tactical actions necessary to bring their strategy to life. By automating time-consuming tasks and providing actionable insights, Wally enables merchants to focus on strategic, creative and innovative activities that enhance customer experiences and meet evolving customer expectations."