Walmart is expanding its drone delivery, making tech-enabled consumer experience modifications, and reimagining the omnichannel shopping experience.
Drone Delivery
Earlier this week, the retailer said that it is expanding its drone delivery program, making ship-to-home delivery available via service drones to roughly 75 percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth population.
“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, SVP of innovation and automation for Walmart U.S, in a statement. “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.”
Drone delivery gives customers a faster delivery option, getting items to them in 30 minutes or less and with some deliveries possible in as little as 10 minutes, according to Walmart.
The 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, according to Walmart. The deliveries will be powered by on-demand drone delivery providers, Wing and Zipline.
“Our first few months delivering to Walmart customers have made it clear: demand for drone delivery is real,” said Wing CEO Adam Woodworth in a statement.
Sam’s Club Leverages AI, Computer Vision
Sam’s Club recently debuted new technological capabilities at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
One such innovation is a tech-enabled gate that leverages AI and computer vision to verify shopping receipts when exiting stores. Currently running pilots across 10 Sam’s Club locations, the technology is used to confirm members have paid for all items in their shopping carts without requiring an employee to check members’ purchases before leaving the club.
“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, in a statement. “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.”
Future of Retail
At CES, Walmart also offered a glimpse into some of the technological innovations that it is leveraging to shape the future of retail.
The changes focus on delivering a new type of consumer-centric commerce—adaptive retail—wherein the retailer leverages technology to create a personalized, flexible shopping experience, according to Walmart.
“While omnichannel retail has been around for decades, this new type of retail–adaptive retail–takes it a step further,” said Suresh Kumar, global CTO and chief development officer at Walmart, in a statement. “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.”
Enhancements include:
• A new generative AI-powered search experience, utilizing technologies akin to ChatGPT, that allows customers to search by specific use cases; for example, a customer can receive product recommendations by typing “football watch party,”
• Walmart InHome Replenishment, a service in development that uses AI and Walmart’s existing replenishment capabilities to ensure customers’ online shopping carts are filled with the right items at the right time and delivered directly to a customer's refrigerator in a kitchen or garage,
• A beta social commerce platform called Shop with Friends that uses augmented reality shopping, blending the real world with a computer-generated one, to allow users to present the virtual outfits they create to friends and get feedback on their finds.
Related: Instacart Tests Smart Cart Ads; Hannaford To Go Offers Free Pickup