Walmart Digitally Transforming Customer Experience
Over the past several years, Walmart has been investing in expanding its digital capabilities to grow its strength and compete with the global ecommerce leader Amazon. The physical retail giant has been able to expand its ecommerce footprint significantly in the US over the past some years. Walmart had started investing in technology strategically a decade ago and has come a long way since then. It has been long since it acquired a huge stake in the Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart. The company owns more than 80% stake in Flipkart. Now, apart from the US, Walmart sells through several online channels in many other parts of the world also.
One of the key focus areas for Walmart has been customer experience. It is continuously improving its e-commerce processes to make them more shopper friendly at both Walmart and Sam’s Club. It is the era of hyperpersonalization and customers expect highly personalized and hassle free shopping experiences. It is why Walmart is investing significantly in building AI and Machine learning capabilities to provide its customers with a hassle free, engaging and highly personalized shopping experience.
It is also enhancing its supply chain capabilities with the use of AI and Machine learning. Its highly optimized supply chain has benefited from the company’s investment in automation. The Walmart supply chain plays a key role in delivering a superior experience to customers and making the tasks easier for its associates. Walmart associates are also given access to technology and technological tools to serve customers efficiently at all critical touchpoints.
From a highly powerful Generative AI powered search to find items easily to scan and go for making it easier to make payments, Wlamart has introduced several innovations to make shopping at Walmart a pleasure. However, AI is driving changes across the Walmart system at a much wider level and will be a source of strong competitive edge for the company that has experienced significant improvement in its market share in the US ecommerce sector. Its AI powered inventory management system and supply chain help ensure that everything customers want and whenever they do is available in stock. Walmart utilizes powerful AI algorithms to make shopping enjoyable and hassle free.
In 2023 and 2024, the company has consistently worked on improving customer experience at all touch points throughout the journey with the help of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Augmented Reality.
Demand can be very high during the holidays and Walmart’s inventory management system plays a critical role in ensuring availability of the most in demand products. Wlamart’s AI powered inventory management system leverages historical data and by pairing it with predictive analytics, enables Walmart to make sure that all the products customers would want and when they want it are available. Walmart is able to strategically optimize the entire shopping experience by placing these items across the distribution centers, warehouses and stores during the holiday period. The use of predictive analytics to understand and cater to demand patterns especially during holidays enables Walmart to shoulder the increased demand efficiently.
Predictive analytics involves the use of historical data in combination with statistical modelling, data mining techniques and machine learning to predict the future outcomes. Often predictive analytics is associated with big data and data science. Companies like Walmart employ predictive modelling to identify hidden risks and opportunities. The data scientists employ deep learning and machine learning algorithms to generate insights from data lying across disparate data repositories.