Walmart is quickly moving to use its physical retail stores to not only serve in-store shoppers, but to flex to meet the needs of online shoppers as well. The purpose of the company’s new test stores is to find solutions that help its stores operate as both physical shopping destinations and online fulfillment centres, Walmart said on its website.

We’ve identified these four stores across the country to serve as test centers where we will continuously rotate new technology, digital tools and physical enhancements in and out of the stores all with the intention of helping our associates better and more easily serve our customers. We have two up and running with two more to come,” John Crecelius, senior vice president of associate product and next generation stores, Walmart US, wrote.

To increase the speed of learning, product and technology teams will be embedded in the stores to prototype, test and iterate solutions in real time, scaling what works and scrapping what doesn’t, creating a true rapid prototype environment, he said.

Omni-assortment, inventory speed, First-time pick rate and checkout experience are some of the issues that will be tested in these four centres.

The company recently developed an app that speeds up the time it takes to get items from the backroom to the sales floor. Instead of scanning each box individually, associates just hold up a handheld device, and the app uses augmented reality to highlight the boxes that are ready to go. Product gets on the shelf faster, something we all know is increasingly important, said Crecelius.

“We’re currently testing how we can use a combination of in-store signage and handheld devices to help our associates navigate to the right locations when picking items for an online order. So far, this simple change has reduced the time it takes our associates to find the items,” he added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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