(25 Apr 2019) LEADIN: Who's minding the store?
In the not-too-distant future, it could be cameras and sensors that can tell almost instantly when bruised bananas need to be swapped for fresh ones and more cash registers need to open before lines get too long.
Walmart is experimenting with digitizing its physical stores to manage them more efficiently, keep costs under control and make the shopping experience more pleasant.
STORYLINE:
Inside one of Walmart's busiest Neighborhood Market stores, high resolution cameras suspended from the ceiling point to a table of bananas and determine from their color how ripe they are.
When a banana starts to bruise, it sends an alert to a worker to replenish.
Normally that task would have been the subjective assessment of the worker, who likely wouldn't have time to inspect every banana.
But now Walmart can rely on thousands of cameras hanging from the ceiling that track when products are running low or when produce or meat start to lose their freshness.
These cameras are a key feature of a living lab that officially opens inside this 50,000-square-foot store Thursday (25 April).
Walmart envisions using these cameras, combined with other technology like sensors on shelves to get the best picture of what's going on in the store in real time so its workers can quickly react to replenish the products or fix other problems Mike Hanrahan, CEO of Walmart's Intelligent Retail Lab explains.
"We can know in real- time when products need to be stocked on the shelves, for example. We know in real time how many facings a product has, meaning how many different times is a product repeated on a shelf, which very important in terms of products that are marketed, how they're sold to the customer. Have the shelves been set up the way our artificial intelligence has determined is the most efficient way to set up the shelves ?"
The technology will also be able to figure out things like when shopping carts are running low, identify spills on the floor or when cash registers need to be open before it gets to the point of long lines.
The end result? Shoppers will be able to find what they need and have cleaner stores.
It should also make workers more efficient as they'll be freed up to serve the customers better or help out with creative merchandise displays.
The technology, unveiled exclusively to The Associated Press, is the first time that so-called artificial intelligence is being used by Walmart in the most visible and pervasive way in its stores.
In fact, behind a glass enclosed wall at the back of the store is a massive data center, where shoppers can see nine cooling towers, 100 servers and other computer equipment that process the 1.6 terra bytes of data per second - roughly three years' worth of music - that is coming from cameras, and other equipment.
Walmart says this "AI Lab" in a store is the first of its kind in the industry.
Walmart's deep dive into artificial intelligence in its physical store comes as Amazon raised the stakes in the grocery business with its purchase of Whole Foods Market nearly two years ago.
That's put more pressure on Walmart and other traditional retailers like Kroger and Albertson's to pour money into technology into their physical stores as they want to make them easier to shop.
At the same time, they're trying to keep food prices down and manage expenses.
Amazon has been rolling out cashier-less Amazon Go stores, which has shelf sensors that track the 1,000 products on its shelves.
Find out more about AP Archive:
Twitter:
Facebook:
Google+:
Tumblr:
Instagram:
You can license this story through AP Archive:
0 Comments