Walmart Develops AI Assistant That Helps Merchants Source Products

Walmart Introduces AI-Powered Assistant 'Wally' to Revolutionize Merchandising

沃尔玛 has taken a significant step in leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance its retail operations with the introduction of Wally, a generative AI-powered assistant designed to support its merchants in sourcing items for both physical and online stores. This innovative tool is set to transform the way Walmart's merchandising teams analyze data, optimize product performance, and streamline operations.

How Wally is Enhancing Merchandising Efficiency

Wally is built to process and generate insights from complex datasets, helping merchants make more informed decisions. Some of its core functionalities include:

• Performance Diagnostics: Identifies why products are under or overperforming, allowing merchants to take timely action.
• Operational Intelligence: Answers questions related to merchandising operations, providing real-time insights.
• Issue Resolution: Raises tickets for unresolved operational challenges, ensuring faster problem-solving.
• Automation of Analytics: Performs complex calculations and predictions, reducing the need for manual data analysis.

According to Walmart’s recent announcement, Wally’s AI-driven capabilities allow merchants to ask questions and receive actionable insights in seconds. By eliminating the friction of manual reporting, Walmart merchants can focus on what they do best delivering the right products to customers efficiently.

Proprietary AI Built for Walmart’s Merchandising Needs

Unlike off-the-shelf AI tools, Wally is built on Walmart’s proprietary data and includes a semantic layer that enables it to understand the nuances of retail merchandising. This ensures that the insights provided are not just data-driven but tailored specifically to Walmart’s business model.

The company has also emphasized that this is just the beginning. As merchants continue to use Wally, Walmart plans to refine and enhance the tool based on user feedback. The ultimate goal is for Wally to evolve into an autonomous AI assistant capable of executing tasks on behalf of merchants without manual intervention.

AI’s Expanding Role in Retail

Walmart’s investment in generative AI aligns with a broader trend across the retail industry. CEO Doug McMillon has previously highlighted the company's focus on leveraging AI to refine product catalogues, improve search functionalities, introduce a new shopping assistant, and support marketplace sellers.

Other major retailers are also integrating AI into their operations. Notably:

• Amazon launched its GenAI-powered conversational shopping assistant, Rufus, in February 2024, making it widely available in July. Customers use Rufus for everything from broad product research to specific shopping queries.
• Target began piloting an AI chatbot in June 2024 to assist store employees with process-related queries, enabling them to serve customers more efficiently.

According to a study by PYMNTS Intelligence and AI-ID, 77% of business leaders in consumer and retail industries now consider generative AI as the most impactful emerging technology. The shift from experimental AI applications to essential operational tools underscores the growing reliance on AI-driven solutions in retail.

Looking Ahead

As AI becomes increasingly embedded in retail operations, Walmart’s Wally represents a major step forward in data-driven decision-making for merchandising teams. The company’s ongoing commitment to improving AI tools ensures that merchants will have more advanced capabilities at their fingertips, leading to better inventory management, optimized sales, and enhanced customer experiences.

With AI-powered tools like Wally, the future of retail merchandising is set to become more data-centric, efficient, and automated, setting a new standard for how retailers manage their supply chains and product offerings.

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