Walmart straddles both brick-and-mortar and online, giving it a unique tech perspective.

Though venerable Walmart started business many decades ago, it’s no slowcoach in modern-day technology. The company has a unique vantage point because of its status as the biggest online retailer after Amazon and its huge network of physical stores. Its development lab marries the best of both worlds when it develops retail technology.

In new applications, Walmart uses machine learning, barcode technology, facial recognition, IoT, and RFID to enhance the shopping experience. Earlier this year, the retailer unveiled its store of the future at the Neighborhood Market in Levittown, New York.

AI for insurance, freshness

The futuristic store is the Intelligent Retail Lab. It uses AI to insure its stocks and monitor the freshness of perishables. Cameras throughout the store transmit data to an in-store data center for processing.

Checkout Theft at Walmart

Walmart started using computer vision technology to monitor checkouts and deter potential theft and other causes of shrink in more than 1,000 stores. Cameras track and analyze activities at both self-checkout registers and those manned by Walmart cashiers.

Self-service kiosks

Here’s a combination of online-physical store technology. Next time pick up your online purchase at a 16×8 sq ft self-service kiosk in the nearby Walmart store. Just scan the barcode on your online receipt, and your purchases will materialize within 45 seconds on the conveyor belt.

Scan and Go

Use the Walmart app on your phone to short-circuit the checkout process. Ultimately the retail chain may use this technology to enable customers to bypass the checkout queue entirely.

Are you unhappy with the store?

If you’re unhappy or angry with the store, your face will show it. Guess what; facial recognition cameras have been trained through machine learning to recognize such expressions. The store would, therefore, be alerted to rush more workforce to run the checkouts.

IoT tags in products

Walmart may incorporate IoT tags into products. For the customer, these tags will enable stock-out or expiration date alerts – even place orders for replenishment! Moreover, for the retailer, it would gather a gold mine of information on how the product is used, when it is used, and where it’s placed in the house.

Walmart could, therefore, collect data on customer behavior that it could use to enhance their interactions with the retailer.

Robotic deliveries

Nuro, a Silicon Valley robotics company, and Walmart have partnered to run a pilot in Houston to test grocery deliveries. The pilot will use autonomous delivery vehicles.

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