Self-driving carts?
Walmart announced on Friday that it will test automated carts in order to speed up online grocery orders.
The supermarket giant revealed that its location in Salem, New Hampshire will now feature self-driving carts which will move down the store’s aisles and pick out groceries for online orders. This is an attempt to speed up the process and optimize employee time, as bots may be able to find items more quickly and give employees more time to complete other in-store tasks.
However, Walmart did note that its employees will still gather produce and meats for health and safety purposes – in addition, employees will also deliver goods to customers outside of Walmart locations.
This is one more strategy that Walmart has implemented in order to keep up with Amazon. In fact, Kroger will be rolling out a similar system soon, as well, partnering with UK-based Ocado. Walmart’s Executive President, Mark Ibbotson, explained:
“The vast majority of grocery products we offer in-store will be fulfilled through this system, though our personal shoppers will still handpick produce and other fresh items.”
He continued:
“Although this is a small pilot, we expect big things from it. We have a lot to learn about this new technology, and we’re excited about the possibilities of how we can use it to make the future of shopping — and working — even better.”
At this point, it is unclear whether or not Alphabot, which is what Walmart has labeled the program, will be successful. However, it is important that the company is thinking towards the future – although Walmart’s stock has fallen 0.3 percent on Monday, it could jump if the program is successful.
Featured Image via PxHere
