Walmart Ditches Cashiers in New Neighborhood Market Store

Need to Know

• Walmart expands on its tech-focused innovations with a recently opened cashierless ‘Neighbourhood Market” store in Coral Way, Florida. 
• Neighborhood Market features online grocery pickup, same-day grocery delivery, expanded checkout options, and a ‘check out with me’ feature – all aimed at saving customers time. 
• The new store will also feature a pharmacy, full-service deli, and a re-designed fresh produce department and create upwards of 100 new jobs. 

Analysis 

Walmart continues to expand on its innovations aimed at improving the customer experience with its new cashierless Neighbourhood Market store. The store features same-day grocery delivery and online grocery pickup options, a Check Out With Me feature, and larger, expanded self-checkout lanes. 

Check Out With Me, which first introduced in Walmart Superstores in 2018, allows associates to check out customers anywhere in the store using handheld devices – speeding up the checkout process and eliminating the need for waiting in a queue. 

The goal of the Neighbourhood Market, save its customers time and allow associates to focus on serving customers on the sales floor. 

“Associates across the country tell us they want to spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time helping customers. By expanding self-checkout and adding Check Out With Me, associates will be on the sales floor where they can help customers – fast,” said Patrick Shanks, Regional VP of Neighborhood Market Operations.

This customer-centric initiative aimed at improving the customer experience is not the first for the discount superstore. Recently they partnered with Nuro to launch a driverless grocery delivery service. They also tapped into tech during the holidays with their partnership with Digimarc, bringing their catalog to life with scannable barcodes. The retailer also unveiled an AI-powered Intelligent Retail Lab and an in-home delivery service. 

“We’re obsessed with simplifying grocery shopping and finding ways to make our customers’ lives easier,” said the retailer in a release. 

E-commerce giant Amazon has announced a similar focus with its cashierless Amazon Go stores. With 21 locations operating across the U.S and additional locations scheduled to open throughout 2020, Amazon Go enables the retailer to close the gap between an online experience and a traditional brick and mortar store. 

The retailer hasn’t said if they will open additional Neighbourhood Markets in other markets but if Amazon’s expansion is any indicator, customers can surely expect more Neighbourhood Markets in the near future.