Walmart is reportedly testing out four new stores that could serve as both, online fulfillment centers and physical shopping destinations, amid the COVID-19 pandemic for the ‘New Era of Retail’. The retail giant has decided to move most of its in-store apparel assortment online in the first store. The move has been effectively taken for the identification of other hard-to-manage categories that could be made more readily available is stores put in more effort.

The company has also created an app for reducing the time required for getting items from the backroom to the sales floor. This method involves the deployment of a handheld device instead of scanning each box in an individual manner. Further, the app makes use of augmented reality for the purpose of highlighting the boxes that are set to go out.

As per John Crecelius, SVP of Associate Product and Next Generation Stores, Walmart, the four stores will effectively serve as ‘test centers’ where the company will rotate various prototype technologies in and out of the store for determining the most convenient alternative for both, online and in-person, shoppers. Crecelius has also added that for enhancing the speed at which the company learns, technology and product teams will be immersed in stores for iterating, prototyping, and testing solutions in real-time, further upscaling what works and discarding what does not, thus developing a truly brisk prototype environment.

Further, in this new era of retail, assets previously serving a single purpose will be transformed into flexible and scalable assets that could be utilized in numerous ways for serving customers as per the required product, time, and location. Walmart’s evolution of stores is just the beginning, whereby in the ensuing weeks and months, the company will disclose more regarding how it is reimagining its other physical assets for better serving the requirements of customers in the present and the future, added Crecelius.

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https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/bronxville/business/covid-19-four-walmart-stores-being-tested-for-new-era-of-retail-senior-vp-says/796972/