Walmart has been a major force in the adoption of new technologies and embracing transformation among global enterprises. It is conceivable that if Wal-Mart had always adhered to the mentality of "the law of the ancestors cannot be violated", Wal-Mart would never have developed into the world's largest retail giant. In particular, in the area of generative AI, Walmart is actively integrating this emerging technology into its own business system to use this transformation*** to improve performance and provide a better service experience for customers.
Let's take a look at a few specific ways Walmart deploys generative AI.
Improve the shopping experience
Many customers will buy the same products every week or on a regular basis in stores or on **. Walmart understands this pattern, which is why it has launched a voice shopping feature that allows customers to easily re-purchase the items they need regularly. Walmart Voice Ordering allows customers to connect their mobile devices and home speakers to their Walmart account and then say out loud what they want to order. For example, a customer can call "Hey Google, add a dozen eggs to their cart," and the system understands the request, identifies the brand that the customer has been shopping for a long time, and then automatically adds the product. It's that smooth and silky.
In addition, there is also a "SMS Shopping" function, where customers can send a text message to Walmart to purchase the products they need. Simple text chat powered by conversational AI technology makes it easy for customers to search for items, add or remove products to their cart, reorder products, and schedule delivery for in-store pickup.
Walmart has also launched a new AI shopping assistant designed to help customers quickly find the best products for their needs and even help plan the perfect celebration. Whether you're looking for a superhero-themed party for a six-year-old or a fun Halloween outfit for a teenager, this tool can help customers get rid of tedious and repetitive searches by making accurate product recommendations.
Provide voice assistance to store staff
The generative AI voice assistant is not just for customers, Walmart has also designed a conversational AI solution for store employees called "Ask Sam". The AI assistant can help employees with a variety of queries, such as finding a specific product in the store, querying**, or retrieving employees' work schedules. Again, the whole process is very smooth, and employees can get answers by asking as simple questions as "where is the cinnamon?"
Enhance customer service
Most of you are probably familiar with customer service chatbots - but you must admit that many bots in the past are quite "mentally retarded" and often answer the wrong questions. But generative AI has taken chatbots to a leap forward in functionality, allowing them to interpret and respond to requests in a smarter, more human-like way. That's why many companies, including Walmart, have decided to turn to generative AI to automate customer support. Since 2020, Walmart says the technology has helped agents offload millions of requests by providing instant answers to questions about returns, order status, and more. This real-time conversation feature is already available in several countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, and India.
**Negotiation automation
Another interesting use case is business negotiations. Walmart has experimented with using generative AI chatbots to close deals with 89 shopping carts and other store devices. Among the many first-class negotiations, chatbots have completed transactions as high as 64%, with an average cost saving of 15%, while the payment term has been relaxed by an additional 35 days. What's even more impressive is that 83% of the merchants said they prefer to negotiate with a chatbot, which proves that automated negotiation can not only bring more lenient terms of the deal, but also provide a good negotiation experience for the merchants.
Allow employees to come up with more spontaneous solutions
One of the challenges many business leaders face is how to find the most suitable application cases for emerging technologies such as generative AI. In this regard, why not ask the rank-and-file employees who know the most about the situation on the front line? This is exactly what Walmart has done, and it has begun to open up its generative AI tool "My Assistant" to employees at all levels of its business facilities, hoping that generative AI will reduce the burden of "monotonous, repetitive tasks" on employees and allow them to devote more time and energy to improving the customer experience. What's more, Walmart allows employees to spontaneously explore the best ways to use the tool in their day-to-day work. In other words, Walmart hopes to mobilize a large workforce to explore the direction of generative AI as the preferred path to cultivate employee creativity and guide employees to new technologies.
Today, Walmart continues to make great strides and continues to look for ways to integrate this transformative technology into its own business systems. Other organizations across industries can learn from this and design new use cases for generative AI that work for them.