According to a recent report from Fox Business, international retail giant Walmart is now utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to help aid customers and handle the continued influx of online shopping.
Walmart’s global tech executive vice president, Srini Venkatesan, posted a blog post saying that since more Americans are turning to online resources for shopping, that created a “unique challenge” for Walmart.
Popular items at Walmart began to sellout quickly, particularly in the months of March-April, along with foot traffic beginning to increase.
To control the unexpected “customer rush on essentials as lockdowns spread across the U.S.” last July, corporate affairs said they hired over 400,000 new associates.
Walmart’s solution was to use artificial intelligence to help both customers and Personal Shoppers choose the best substitute for an out-of-stock item.
Srini Venkatesan
For example, imagine you’re a Personal Shopper looking for cherry yogurt for an online grocery order. But when you get to the yogurt aisle, there’s no cherry yogurt left. You see strawberry, raspberry and blueberry yogurt — would the customer like one of those options? Perhaps another flavor, like vanilla? Fat-free? Skip the yogurt all together? How can a Personal Shopper decide which is the next best option for a customer they may never have met?
The decision on how to substitute is complex and highly personal to each customer. If the wrong choice is made, it can negatively impact customer satisfaction and increase costs.
The tech we built uses deep learning AI to consider hundreds of variables — size, type, brand, price, aggregate shopper data, individual customer preference, current inventory and more – in real time to determine the best next available item. It then preemptively asks the customer to approve the substituted item or let us know they don’t want it, an important signal that’s fed back into our learning algorithms to improve the accuracy of future recommendations.
The solution is also designed to make our associates’ jobs easier. Instead of having to guess, the Personal Shopper can be told precisely what the customer may prefer. If our Personal Shoppers are preparing orders and come across an item that is not available, our system suggests the alternative product. Our tech even shows our Personal Shopper where the item is located in the store, simplifying the decision-making process for our team and enabling them to prepare orders quickly and efficiently.
Following the deployment of this tech, customer acceptance of substitutions has increased to over 95%.
We continue to iterate and enhance this technology, and our customers are responding positively. The best part is, throughout the entire process the system is learning and getting smarter based on customer input and actions. Our goal is never to be out of stock and never to have substitutions. But, when it happens, the technology we’ve built helps ensure customers get the next best thing.
Srini Venkatesan, from a blog post on the Walmart’s corporate website.
According to Walmart’s website, roughly 220 million customers and members visit their 10,500 stores and clubs, and ecommerce sites, in 24 nations.
In early February The WinePress reported that Walmart was adding on or building separate autonomous distribution centers to help deal with their influx of online shoppers.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Proverbs 22:7
Instead of hiring more workers, especially those that are more competent, diligent, and ambitious, (seeing as we are in the midst of a labor shortage), the international corporate giant uses its bottomless wallets and purses to dump money into technology that replaces workers (increasing the profit of Walmart in the long term due to less employees), and finds ways to know even more about us through AI – which the useless American government just passed a bill that allows the big tech companies to use our information that they stole to better research AI.
Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Major Spending Bill To Bailout Big Tech To Compete With China
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
Proverbs 12:24
All of this is yet another subtle and incremental step towards the autonomous smart cities.
Agenda 2030: You’ll Own Nothing And Be Happy
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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