Walmart unveils latest technologies at Consumer Electronics Show
During the keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart and key executives unveiled how some of the latest technologies will enable the world’s largest retailer to deliver a new type of commerce—one that is customer-centric, interconnected, frictionless and consistently exceeds expectations. In addition, the company outlined its plan for ongoing innovation; specifically, how the technology it builds will benefit customers and members, its associate team and society.
“We build technology to serve people and not the other way around,” said McMillon. “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.”
Several company executives joined McMillon to showcase how technologies like AI, GenAI and AR will reimagine Walmart’s role as a shopping destination to serving as a customer’s concierge, acting as their partner in achieving broader missions.
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Specifically, Walmart revealed:
- A new GenAI-powered search experience now available to iOS customers. The enhanced search experience allows customers to now search by specific use cases, e.g., a football watch party versus individual searches for chips, wings, drinks and a 90-inch TV. It generates relevant, cross-category results.
- A sneak peek into Walmart InHome Replenishment, which uses AI and Walmart’s decades of replenishment expertise to ensure customers’ online shopping carts are filled with the right items at the right time and delivered into a refrigerator in a kitchen or garage.
- A beta social commerce platform called Shop with Friends that takes AR shopping to the next level by enabling customers to share the virtual outfits they create with friends and get feedback on their fashion finds.
“While omnichannel retail has been around for decades, this new type of retail—adaptive retail—takes it a step further,” said Suresh Kumar, global chief technology officer and chief development officer at Walmart. “It’s retail that is not only e-commerce 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.”
With that in mind, Sam’s Club unveiled a new technology that aims to solve a key concern for its members—waiting in line for receipt verification when exiting the club. The technology uses a first-of-its-kind application of AI and computer vision technology to deliver new levels of convenience as members exit their club.
The new tech announced at CES will deliver new levels of convenience by leveraging a first-of-its-kind application of artificial intelligence and computer vision technology to eliminate queuing at the club’s exit area. The move to use digital solutions to drive a better member experience builds on Sam’s Club’s existing technologies, such as Scan & Go, to provide members with a more convenient shopping experience and differentiate Sam’s Club as a segment innovator.
"This is Sam’s Club at its very best, listening to feedback from members, putting their needs at the center of everything we do—and then applying digital innovations to deliver an industry-leading member experience,” said Chris Nicholas, CEO of Sam’s Club. “We are constantly looking at ways for Sam’s Club to be the most convenient membership club and will continue to prioritize using technology to provide a truly differentiated and delightful experience for our members.”
Currently running pilots across 10 Sam’s Club locations, the technology is used to seamlessly confirm members have paid for all items in their shopping carts—without requiring an associate to check members’ purchases before leaving the club. Before this technology, members were slowed by queuing at the club’s exit area to have Sam’s Club exit greeters review receipts. Members continue to say they want a faster and more convenient shopping experience and consistently rated the wait times at the exit—especially during busy periods—as a pain point in the shopping experience.
Now, after a member completes payment at a register or via Scan & Go, a combination of computer vision and digital technology deployed in the exit area of the club captures images of carts and verifies payment for all items within a member’s basket. With AI working in the background to continually speed the process, this digital innovation not only streamlines the member’s exit, but also allows exit greeters to refocus their time and expertise to assisting members and ensuring they have an enjoyable shopping experience.
More than half of members at the pilot locations are already seeing the benefits of the new experience. With AI constantly learning and improving across any of Sam’s Club’s thousands of items and exit transactions at multiple locations, the company said it will continue iterating and enhancing the technology through early 2024, intending to rapidly expand it to its nearly 600 clubs by the end of the year.
Sam’s Club is the first retailer to deploy this technology at exit and at scale, a natural extension of how the club uses digital innovation to enhance the shopping experience through Scan & Go. Scan & Go allows members to use the Sam’s Club mobile app to capture purchases on-the-go and bypass the traditional checkout line in the club, as well as at the fuel station and Café.
Walmart also announced another step in its goal to offering customers the ultimate convenience of getting items in as soon as 30 minutes by expanding drone delivery to 1.8 million additional households in the Dallas Fort-Worth metroplex—75% of the area. Of the 120,000 items in a Supercenter, 75% meet the size and weight requirements for drone delivery.
“This expansion will bring the ultimate convenience of drone delivery to communities across the DFW area. Customers will have access to a broad assortment of items from Walmart available for delivery to their home in just minutes,” said Prathibha Rajashekhar, senior vice president of Innovation & Automation at Walmart U.S. “Drone delivery is not just a concept of the future, it’s happening now and will soon be a reality for millions of additional Texans.”
"Our drone delivery expansion includes stores across more than 30 towns and municipalities in the DFW metroplex, marking the first time a U.S. retailer has offered drone delivery to this many households in a single market. The deliveries will be powered by on-demand drone delivery providers, Wing and Zipline. Both are approved by the FAA to fly their drones without a dedicated observer being able to see the drone at all times, known as Beyond Visual Line of Sight, which will enable drone delivery to more Texans than ever before."
Walmart also shared its technology efforts to serve its 2.1 million associates worldwide. Last August, the company launched a GenAI tool for U.S. and Canada campus-based associates called My Assistant, which was created in-house by Walmart’s tech team.
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Walmart also announced plans to expand its proprietary My Assistant tool. In the year ahead, campus associates in 11 countries will be able to interact with My Assistant in their native language. From speeding up the drafting process, to serving as a creative partner, to summarizing large documents, My Assistant is changing how associates work and solve problems, Walmart said.
Additionally, Walmart shared that it has been on a journey to reduce the impact of its operations on the environment since 2005. Currently powering more than 47% of its operations with renewable energy and on track to power more than 50% by 2025 and 100% by 2035, Walmart also announced ambitious clean energy goals at CES.
By the end of 2030, the company aims is to advance its transition toward emissions-free energy by enabling up to 10 gigawatts of new clean energy projects into service on- and off-site—the equivalent of the annual power consumption of more than 2 million households. This will enable tens of thousands of U.S. households to save on their electricity bills.