Walmart has unveiled its strategy to accelerate "Adaptive Retail," emphasising deeply personalised shopping experiences. The retail company revealed that it is leveraging proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI (GenAI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Immersive Commerce platforms to enhance convenience and customer engagement across Walmart stores, Sam's Clubs, apps, and virtual environments.
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"A standard search bar is no longer the fastest path to purchase, rather we must use technology to adapt to customers' individual preferences and needs," said Suresh Kumar, global chief technology officer and chief development officer at Walmart. "At the heart of our platform strategy is developing common global core capabilities that are built once and deployed across Walmart US, Sam's Club and Walmart International."
Wallaby: Walmart's Retail-Specific AI
Walmart said it has developed a system of proprietary GenAI platforms to power GenAI technology, with the latest being Wallaby—a series of retail-specific Large Language Models (LLMs) that will primarily be used to create customer-facing experiences.
Reportedly, Wallaby is trained with decades of Walmart data, enabling Walmart to combine it with other LLMs to create highly contextual responses aligned with Walmart’s core values. This AI will serve as the backbone of Walmart's future customer-facing experiences, the company said.
Additionally, Walmart has leveraged a combination of GenAI platforms to create a more personalised version of its AI-powered Customer Support Assistant. This support assistant will enhance service by recognising returning customers and performing actions such as processing returns, making the experience faster and more efficient.
"The company is actively building dozens of additional GenAI tools for customers, members, associates and partners that leverage its GenAI platforms, including enhanced care assistants for Sam’s Club and Walmart International," Walmart said.
Personalised Shopping at Walmart
Walmart revealed that it has developed a Content Decision Platform that serves as a foundational tool to create shopping experiences tailored to the individual customer. The platform leverages AI-based technology to understand the customer and a GenAI-powered tool that can predict the type of content they'd like to see on the site.
This platform, aligned with Walmart's Responsible AI Pledge, is already in use in select areas of Walmart.com. The fully personalised US shopping experience will launch next year, with plans to expand to Canada and Mexico for personalised item recommendations.
Immersive Commerce and AR
Walmart said it is pushing beyond traditional retail to connect with younger, tech-savvy customers. For this, the company has developed an AR platform called Retina, which leverages AI, GenAI, and automation to create tens of thousands of 3D assets, along with Immersive Commerce APIs. These technologies power immersive shopping experiences in virtual environments like Roblox.
Walmart is also testing its immersive commerce APIs with Unity and launching a new partnership with ZEPETO later this year. Within the immersive avatar-based social platform, customers will be able to buy items from Walmart’s No Boundaries brand for their virtual avatars and the matching real-world item for themselves, Walmart said.
Retina is currently used in 10 AR experiences across Walmart US and Sam's Club, helping to reduce return rates and increase customer engagement. The company noted that the platform will soon expand to Canada, Mexico, and Chile. The company is also actively working on headset-based experiences to enable customers/members to visualise furniture in an inspirational setting.
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Future of Retail: AI, AR, and Beyond
"Being people-led means we start with the human need, and often, a combination of technologies like AI, GenAI, AR, and Immersive Commerce is key to the solution," said Kumar. "Our customers guide us, and with these platforms, we're ready for whatever they need."
