Walmart unveils strategy to accelerate Adaptive Retail
Walmart shared its strategy to accelerate Adaptive Retail, which the company hails as "the new era of retail defined by profoundly personal experiences that brings shopping to customers in exactly the ways they want and need."
The retailer recently revealed proprietary Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Augmented Reality and Immersive Commerce platforms it is leveraging to create hyper-personalized, convenient and engaging shopping experiences across Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs, apps and other virtual environments.
“A standard search bar is no longer the fastest path to purchase. Rather, we must use technology to adapt to customers’ individual preferences and needs,” said Suresh Kumar, global chief technology officer and chief development officer at Walmart.
Kumar added, “At the heart of our platform strategy is developing common global core capabilities that are built once and deployed across Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club and Walmart International. As a global company with multiple business segments, this enables us to move with speed as we bring consistent experiences to all our customers and members.”
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Walmart has developed a system of proprietary GenAI platforms to power GenAI technology, with the latest being Wallaby – a series of retail-specific LLMs that will primarily be used to create customer-facing experiences. Wallaby is trained with decades of Walmart data, enabling the retailer to combine it with other LLMs to create responses that are highly contextual and tailored to the Walmart environment.
Leveraging a combination of GenAI platforms, Walmart also has created a more personalized version of its AI-powered customer support assistant. Now, the customer support assistant recognizes who the customer is right from the start and goes beyond just understanding the customer’s intent to taking actions, like finding orders and managing returns. In testing, customers reported an overall smoother experience that helped them handle their issues quickly and on their own. The company is actively building dozens of additional GenAI tools for customers, members, associates and partners that leverage its GenAI platforms, including enhanced care assistants for Sam’s Club and Walmart International. Walmart noted that customers crave personalized shopping experiences, with personalization as a key enabler. Walmart has developed a Content Decision Platform, aligned with its Digital Trust Commitments and Responsible AI Pledge, that serves as a foundational tool to create shopping experiences tailored to the individual customer. The platform leverages AI-based technology to understand the customer and a GenAI-powered tool that can predict the type of content they’d like to see on the site. It’s already being used within select areas of Walmart.com.
“Retail today goes beyond just online and in-store shopping, or even a combination of both. It’s about meeting customers in new places, particularly younger generations for whom shopping is often a byproduct of other activities, like gaming,” the retailer said.
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To do this, Walmart has developed an AR platform called Retina, which leverages AI, GenAI and automation to create tens of thousands of 3D assets, along with immersive commerce APIs. These technologies enable the company to bring the Walmart shopping experience into new virtual social environments, unlock new revenue streams and be at the forefront of Adaptive Retail.
Looking ahead, Walmart plans to bring View in Your Home to Canada, Mexico and Chile via Retina and create more interactive experiences, like “hotspots,” an extension that enables customers/members to easily access production information while they are viewing an item in 3D. The company also is actively working on headset-based experiences to enable customers/members to visualize furniture in an inspirational setting.
“Being people-led means we start with the human need, and often, a combination of technologies like AI, GenAI, AR and Immersive Commerce, is key to the solution,” Kumar said. “Our customers guide us, and with these platforms, we’re ready for whatever they need.”