From USA Today:
“Walmart
unveils new store design with self-checkout kiosks, contactless options rolling
out to Supercenters”
A future trip
to your local Walmart might soon remind you of shopping on the retailer's app. Walmart
unveiled a new, reimagined store design Wednesday rolling out to 200 locations
this fiscal year, which ends in early 2021, and another 1,000 by next fiscal
year that officials say will create a "seamless" omni shopping
experience with more self-checkout kiosks and contactless payment options. Janey Whiteside, the retailer's chief customer
officer and an executive vice president, said the new design was planned before
the coronavirus pandemic and one of the goals is to save shoppers time. "We're
working hard to make it easy for customers to be able to toggle between their
physical experiences that are in the store and their digital journeys,"
Whiteside said in an interview with USA TODAY. "We think customers are
going to really enjoy and find this a much easier shopping experience." Whiteside
said Walmart has been testing the redesign in select stores in Arkansas and has
evolved the design based on shopper and employee feedback. She said the design
will come to more stores this fall and will continue to evolve based on
additional feedback. "By the end of this fiscal year, the experience will
be in nearly 200 Supercenters as well as in select Health Centers and
Neighborhood Markets, reaching close to 1,000 stores by next fiscal year,"
Whiteside said in a blog post Wednesday. Whiteside said they got the inspiration for
the design by "airport wayfinding systems as best-in-class examples of how
to navigate large groups of people."
The signage on
the outside of stores and inside is updated to reflect the Walmart app icon and
there are visual reminders encouraging shoppers to download and use it while
they shop such as how to use the app's item finder and navigate around the
store with a map. The design focuses “on getting what you want as quickly as
possible so you're not endlessly walking up and down aisles looking for items,”
Whiteside told USA TODAY, adding the layout brings greater visibility to key
items throughout the store, including dedicated in-store sections for
electronics, toys, baby products and more. Stores also will include
self-checkout kiosks as well as contactless payment solutions, including
Walmart Pay, "to limit contact between associates and customers,"
Whiteside said. Select locations will also have Scan & Go, part of the new
Walmart+ membership program, she said in the blog post. With the in-store
feature, shoppers scan items as they shop and then pay using Walmart Pay.
Contactless
payment and item finder Regardless of whether your Walmart is one of the
first to get redesigned, there are some features available to all shoppers
using the app, including the item finder with the maps and Walmart Pay options.
A few months ago Walmart combined its Walmart Grocery app with its main app
to allow consumers to shop for items in multiple departments, much like a trip
to one of the company's Supercenter stores. Until the recent upgrade,
shoppers could only pickup groceries at curbside but were able to order items
from other departments for pickup in the store. The pandemic sped up Walmart's
plans to integrate the apps because of a surge in online and mobile shopping,
Whiteside said. Whiteside said COVID-19 advanced plans for the new store
design rollout and contactless efforts, too. Customer interest and ease using
contactless options also has increased, she said. "Whether you get the redesign now,
next year or moving forward, you'll still have access to Walmart+, Scan &
Go, the delivery options,” Whiteside told USA TODAY. “This will just be another
supporting aspect of that.”
^ I’m sure this
redesign will be good for some people, but not for the typical Wal-Mart shopper
(we’ve all seen the videos online.) I rarely go to Wal-Mart so don’t see it
doing much for me. ^
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