design:retail - June 2019 - 22

DESIGN:RETAIL

JUNE 2019

ON TREND

Walmart's "Smart Assistants"
THE RETAILER INVESTS IN NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO ENHANCE
THE ASSOCIATE AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

➞ HOW CAN YOU improve the employee experience? Give

them an assistant. Who wouldn't love a little help
with monotonous job tasks? And since it's the 21st
century, why not make it an automated assistant.
That is exactly what Walmart has been doing. The
company has been pioneering new technologies to
minimize time spent on repetitive, mundane tasks,
so associates have more time to interact with customers. From cleaning floors to checking inventory,
Walmart now has a smart assistant for that.
To help associates keep the store clean, there is
the Auto-C, an autonomous floor cleaner that can
travel through the open areas of the store to clean
and polish the floor. Walmart also has created
a series of innovations to support a more efficient
process for maintaining inventory. It starts with
Auto-S, a shelf scanner that helps to ensure product availability, correct shelf location and price

accuracy. This technology communicates with the
back-of-house Fast Unloader, which helps to efficiently unload trucks. By working in conjunction
with the shelf scanner, the Fast Unloader scans and
sorts items unloaded from trucks based on priority. This allows associates to quickly move inventory
from the back room to the sales floor based on need.
"With this technology, there is now three-way
communication between the associate's handheld
device, shelf scanner and uploader, streamlining a
process that otherwise equates to hours and days of
mundane activity," says Ragan Dickens, a spokesperson for Walmart. "It was previously hard to
determine what was missing and now that information is available in real time."

22

For associates, Walmart wanted to improve the
experience of a previously high-turnover position
by providing support for more repetitive tasks.
It was equally important to implement these
technologies as a way to improve the customer experience. "Customers want to know the product
they need is in the store, and these innovations ensure that customers will be able to get the product
they want, when they want it, and they will be able
to find it where it is supposed to be," Dickens adds.
Another innovation to support the customer
experience is the introduction of Pickup Towers,
allowing customers to quickly and easily pick up
online orders in-store.
Stores across the country successfully tested
these smart assistants in 2018, and the technology
will continue to be implemented across the fleet
throughout 2019.

PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF WALMART

By Jenny S. Rebholz



design:retail - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - June 2019

design:retail - June 2019
Contents
From the Editor
Insider Insights
Happenings
Site Visit: Time More
Window Watching: Coach at Macy’s
Clicks & Mortar: Parachute
Spec Sheet: Salone Del Mobile
Brand Immersion: Harman Intl.
Clicks & Mortar: Eyebobs
Site Visit: Foot Locker Power Store
Hands On: Shakespeare & Co.
On Trend: Walmart
Perspectives: Augmented Experience
By the Numbers: Bopis
2019 Show Guide
Zhongshu Bookstore
Alibaba’s Freshippo
Hybrid Retail
Zara
5 Questions For...
design:retail - June 2019 - Intro
design:retail - June 2019 - design:retail - June 2019
design:retail - June 2019 - Cover2
design:retail - June 2019 - 1
design:retail - June 2019 - Contents
design:retail - June 2019 - 3
design:retail - June 2019 - 4
design:retail - June 2019 - 5
design:retail - June 2019 - From the Editor
design:retail - June 2019 - 7
design:retail - June 2019 - Insider Insights
design:retail - June 2019 - Happenings
design:retail - June 2019 - Site Visit: Time More
design:retail - June 2019 - 11
design:retail - June 2019 - Window Watching: Coach at Macy’s
design:retail - June 2019 - 13
design:retail - June 2019 - Clicks & Mortar: Parachute
design:retail - June 2019 - Spec Sheet: Salone Del Mobile
design:retail - June 2019 - Brand Immersion: Harman Intl.
design:retail - June 2019 - TRCover1
design:retail - June 2019 - TR2
design:retail - June 2019 - TR3
design:retail - June 2019 - TR4
design:retail - June 2019 - TR5
design:retail - June 2019 - TR6
design:retail - June 2019 - TR7
design:retail - June 2019 - TR8
design:retail - June 2019 - TR9
design:retail - June 2019 - TRCover4
design:retail - June 2019 - Clicks & Mortar: Eyebobs
design:retail - June 2019 - Site Visit: Foot Locker Power Store
design:retail - June 2019 - 19
design:retail - June 2019 - Hands On: Shakespeare & Co.
design:retail - June 2019 - 21
design:retail - June 2019 - On Trend: Walmart
design:retail - June 2019 - 23
design:retail - June 2019 - 24
design:retail - June 2019 - 25
design:retail - June 2019 - Perspectives: Augmented Experience
design:retail - June 2019 - By the Numbers: Bopis
design:retail - June 2019 - 2019 Show Guide
design:retail - June 2019 - 29
design:retail - June 2019 - 30
design:retail - June 2019 - 31
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design:retail - June 2019 - 41
design:retail - June 2019 - Zhongshu Bookstore
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design:retail - June 2019 - 48
design:retail - June 2019 - OPCover1
design:retail - June 2019 - OP2
design:retail - June 2019 - OP3
design:retail - June 2019 - OP4
design:retail - June 2019 - OP5
design:retail - June 2019 - OP6
design:retail - June 2019 - OP7
design:retail - June 2019 - OP8
design:retail - June 2019 - OP9
design:retail - June 2019 - OP10
design:retail - June 2019 - OP11
design:retail - June 2019 - OP12
design:retail - June 2019 - OP13
design:retail - June 2019 - OP14
design:retail - June 2019 - OP15
design:retail - June 2019 - OP16
design:retail - June 2019 - OP17
design:retail - June 2019 - OP18
design:retail - June 2019 - OP19
design:retail - June 2019 - OPCover4
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design:retail - June 2019 - 50
design:retail - June 2019 - 51
design:retail - June 2019 - Alibaba’s Freshippo
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design:retail - June 2019 - 55
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design:retail - June 2019 - 58
design:retail - June 2019 - 59
design:retail - June 2019 - Hybrid Retail
design:retail - June 2019 - 61
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design:retail - June 2019 - 64
design:retail - June 2019 - RXCover1
design:retail - June 2019 - RX2
design:retail - June 2019 - RX3
design:retail - June 2019 - RX4
design:retail - June 2019 - RX5
design:retail - June 2019 - RX6
design:retail - June 2019 - RX7
design:retail - June 2019 - RXCover4
design:retail - June 2019 - 65
design:retail - June 2019 - 66
design:retail - June 2019 - 67
design:retail - June 2019 - Zara
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design:retail - June 2019 - 5 Questions For...
design:retail - June 2019 - Cover3
design:retail - June 2019 - Cover4
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