Walmart has revealed how it will ensure the integration of AI, GenAI, and AR into Walmart’s services in order to enhance retail experience.
The retail giant disclosed several groundbreaking innovations:
GenAI-Powered Search Experience: Walmart introduced an enhanced search feature for iOS users, leveraging GenAI. This advanced search capability allows customers to seek products based on specific scenarios, like a football watch party, streamlining searches across categories for related items like chips, wings, drinks, and large TVs.
Walmart’s GenAI search tool is a result from a collaboration between Walmart’s shopper data and Microsoft’s AI models. This innovation allows shoppers to explore products based on specific needs rather than relying solely on brand names or traditional search methods. By inputting phrases like “a football watch party” or “help me plan a unicorn-themed party for my daughter,” customers receive a curated list of items tailored to their requirements, simplifying the shopping process significantly.
Initially available to iOS users, the feature will soon expand to Walmart’s website and Android app later in the year.
Walmart InHome Replenishment: A sneak peek into this service unveiled an AI-driven system utilizing Walmart’s extensive replenishment expertise. It ensures customers’ online shopping carts are regularly updated with necessary items, promptly delivered and placed directly into their refrigerators in the kitchen or garage.
Shop with Friends AR Platform: A beta launch of a social commerce platform enables customers to engage in augmented reality shopping experiences. Users can share virtual outfits they create, seek opinions from friends, and receive feedback on their fashion selections.
“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. And for Walmart, adaptive retail is rooted in a clear focus on people,” Suresh Kumar, Walmart’s Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer, said in news statement.
In a bid to enhance member convenience, Sam’s Club revealed a groundbreaking technology addressing a major concern – the hassle of waiting in line for receipt verification when exiting the club. This novel technology integrates AI and computer vision, ensuring a seamless exit process for club members.
Walmart’s commitment to ultimate convenience took a leap forward with the announcement of an expansion in drone delivery services. Covering 1.8 million additional households in the Dallas Fort-Worth metroplex (encompassing 75 percent of the area), this move brings drone-deliverable items from Walmart Supercenters to doorsteps in as little as 30 minutes, encompassing 75 percent of the Supercenter inventory.
Associates Empowerment:
While Walmart focuses on technological advancements for customers, it equally prioritizes its 2.1 million associates worldwide. A prime example is the GenAI tool, My Assistant, launched last August for campus-based associates in the U.S. and Canada, crafted internally by Walmart’s tech team.
Walmart unveiled plans to expand the My Assistant tool globally. In the coming year, campus associates across 11 countries will access My Assistant in their native languages.
Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer, said: “We built My Assistant to help Walmart associates spend more time on the things that matter. Our U.S. associates are already using the tool to get to first drafts faster, summarize large documents in seconds and spark creativity with thought starters on a variety of topics.”
Walmart introduced My Assistant to 50,000 campus associates in the U.S. last year. Walmart expects 25,000 associates in international markets to have access to the tool this year – a 50 percent increase in the user base.
The race to harness Generative AI technology has escalated across industries, mirroring the trend sparked by the ChatGPT launch in late 2022. Notably, Walmart’s competitor Amazon.com has utilized generative AI tools to refine ad targeting for advertisers and accelerate promotions for merchants.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
