It might seem a bit odd to cover a retail store like Walmart on a technology website, but with these recent developments, there’s a rhyme and a reason to why this post is being made. Walmart has a few new and innovative technological developments in the works that could revolutionize the way we shop…again.
First, Walmart is building a robot facility as an extension to one of its stores in Salem, New Hampshire. This 20,000 square foot addition will focus only on online shopping orders. The catch? Everything will be operated by robots. These automated grocery carts will be able to “rapidly pick and pack products according to customers’ orders” reports Business Insider. After that, the cart will be taken to one of four stations where a human employee will finish the order and get it ready for shipment. Yeah, it’s weird having to write out “human employee” to distinguish the difference.
Next on the list of technological, yet weird, advancements Walmart has made, they want to bring virtual reality grocery stores to your home. Walmart acquired the VR brand Spatialand in February, and plans to revolutionize the shopping experience by allowing you to browse stores from the comfort of your home… as long as you have a VR headset that is compatible. No word on when this product/service will launch.
A few final factors that Walmart is trying to tackle include a pairing with self-driving cars from Google which will help customers get to the store and back. One such Walmart in Chandler, Arizona will be launching a feature like this in the near future for “select customers.” And lastly, there’s the new Walmart streaming service… so they pretty much have their hands full in tech advancements that will change the way we shop.
