Walmart steps up automation to divert more digital orders coming from its stores

As it dives deeper into store fulfillment, retailer is redesigning tech to support new supply chain model

As Walmart dives deeper into store fulfillment, the retailer has been redesigning its retail tech to support this new supply chain model.

The retailer has increased the number of digital orders coming from its stores by 170% in the last year, leading it to scale its automated market fulfillment centers, tap machine learning and test autonomous delivery, it said in a recent online post.

To support this, Walmart built a tech platform that powers its last-mile delivery ecosystem. Agnostic to supply and demand, and built around its own marketplace, the platform uses automation and machine learning to turn a “near-infinite” number of factors into usable data.

“Our new platform is doing revolutionary things,” explained Srini Venkatesan, EVP for Walmart Global Tech. “With all these disparate points of delivery in a sense ‘communicating’ with one another, we can plan replenishment at a shorter cycle, gain close-to-real-time insights of inventory and ultimately react to customer demand. All of that adds up to a single stellar shopping experience for Walmart customers.”