In a major move destined to redefine retail landscapes, the president and CEO of Walmart, Doug McMillon, introduced a suite of transformative technologies at the Consumer Electronics Show hosted in Las Vegas. Coined as 'adaptive retail', this innovation combines Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies to provide customers with an enhanced shopping journey, proving that Walmart is going all-in on tech-forward solutions.
Unveiled at the exhibition were several products empowered by AI, including fresh tools for product search and replenishment management. Walmart is also beta testing a social commerce platform infused with AR, termed 'Shop with Friends'. In addition, the retail giant showcased how it's incorporating AI into other verticals like its wholesale club, Sam's Club, and applications used by in-store employees.
The centrepiece of these innovations is a unique generative AI search algorithm developed for iOS users. This feature reshapes the search experience by allowing customers to hunt products based on their purposes rather than established product or brand names. For instance, customers can search for a 'football watch party' instead of painstakingly inputting each item, such as chips, wings, drinks or a large TV screen. Borrowing from Google's SGE (Search Generative Experience), this cutting-edge search algorithm considers numerous factors including reviews, prices, images, and subsequently recommends products across different categories.
Prior to CES, Walmart demonstrated an AI-driven shopping assistant that consolidates the shopping process with a chatbot. This chatbot fields customer queries and provides personalized product suggestions. Walmart also indicated the development of a generative AI-powered search function. Users could search for a 'unicorn-themed birthday party' and receive consolidated results including unicorn-themed balloons, napkins, streamers and more. Now, this feature is accessible on mobile devices, debuting on iOS.
An equally intriguing application of AI manifests in the reordering of frequently required items. The newly unveiled InHome Replenishment service uses AI to create automated online shopping carts incorporating items customers often purchase. Available presently through the InHome program, the items are directly delivered to customers' refrigerators in their kitchens or garages via Walmart's smart-lock powered delivery service. While it simplifies the shopping process, this service will not entail a subscription and allows customers to modify their baskets according to their fluctuating needs.
'Shop with Friends', another innovation revealed at CES, is an AR tool that familiarizes customers with virtual outfits sharing with friends before making a purchase. It meshes Walmart's AI-empowered virtual try-on mechanism, introduced last year, with social functions.
Doug McMillon identified the range of products as 'adaptive retail', explaining it as a customization and flexibility based retail approach. In the words of Suresh Kumar, Walmart Inc.'s global chief technology officer and chief development officer, 'adaptive retail' enhances omnichannel retail experiences as it ‘seamlessly blends the best aspects of all channels, with a clear focus on people’.
Walmart also shared how it's applying AI elsewhere. Walmart's Sam's Club is set to roll out AI and computer vision-based technologies to speed up receipt validation at the store exits, mitigating the need for in-person associate checks. Instead, the computer vision tech captures cart images, and AI accelerates the cart to sales matching process. With a pilot currently operative in 10 locations, this tech is projected to extend to all its 600 clubs by the year-end.
Furthermore, Walmart's generative AI tool for store assistants, christened 'My Assistant', will be scaled to over 11 countries beyond the U.S. in 2024, tailoring its operation to employees' local languages. Currently, 'My Assistant' is functional in various countries including Canada, Mexico, Honduras, and more, with plans in action for its launch in India and South Africa. This tool assists employees with writing, summarizing extensive documents, and sparking creativity, as per Walmart's disclosure.
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