How is Walmart Reimagining Retail Tech in The New Normal?

Technology is a catalyst, a key enabler for the tectonic shift that is bringing about a change in the retail sector. At Walmart, we stay cognizant of the latest technological innovations and adopt them, as business models around us continue to evolve in the post COVID-19 era.

The pandemic has dramatically accelerated the speed at which digital is driving businesses across verticals. It’s critical to keep pace with the digital transformation with rapid innovation. At Walmart we have been working on creating omni-shopping experiences that can enable our customers to shop and live better.

Everything that we do at Walmart Global Tech is envisioned and considered from a customer-centric lens. This helps us to create elevated shopping experiences using data-driven analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning among others.

Scaling grocery pickups, automating Fulfillment Centres and Delivery Centres, offering virtual try-ons for products with AR and VR, enhancing last-mile deliveries with AI and ML, using blockchain to ensure food safety and product traceability — these are just some of the ways we are reimagining the future of retail.

In the new reimagined world of retail tech, we hope to mitigate the perpetual challenges of –

• Unpredictable and unforeseen events such as the pandemic or the impending economic downturn
• Complexities and fragilities of supply chains
• Automation across fulfilment and delivery centres to serve customers better
• Understanding the key differentiators for being on top of customers’ minds every single time
• Making sense of huge amounts of data

With the U.S. online retail sales projected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2027 and the overall retail sector set to generate $5.5 trillion by 2027, so it’s natural for us to head towards the digital future. We’re taking a well-orchestrated approach to bring in tech transformations and create wide-ranging impact.

Step in the right direction

To assess the tectonic shifts that the retail industry has undergone in the recent past, we conceptualized our in-house event – Converge @ Walmart which is exclusively centred on ‘Retail Tech’.

What’s Converge @Walmart?

Converge is a one-of-its-kind retail tech event where industry stalwarts, tech enthusiasts, and experts meet and discuss how retail tech will shape the future.

When we debuted last year, the virtual event saw nearly 13,000 registrants from over 100 companies, 124 startups and 67 academic institutions.?This was a shared platform for global leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, startups and student communities to come together and share their insights on global retail developments. Get a glimpse of Converge ‘21 here.

The Present – Converge 2022

This year, Converge gets bigger and better with both in-person and virtual attendees. The tech conference will include detailed insights from pioneers in the industry and see footfall from industry leaders, top tech executives, and global experts.

In its reimagined second edition, Converge @ Walmart, the flagship retail tech event aims to surpass the previous year’s edition, with valuable insights from both global and local ecosystem leaders, startup founders, and academia. The impressive speaker line-up featuring tech futurists is something you don't want to miss.

The event will serve as a springboard for participants to converse, network, discover and get an insider-view to the evolving retail tech landscape.

Recommended session

India Innovators Showcase - a collection of inspirational talks featuring leading retail innovators from India’s robust startup ecosystem.

Not to be missed

SparkTech Showcase - a tech challenge where students and early-stage startups can submit their solutions across four broad themes that include Data, Future of Retail, Emerging Technology, and Supply Chain.

We’re excited and eagerly waiting for it to commence. We hope you will register and join us in this experience!