Walmart will invest more than $800 million toward opening new stores in Florida and California, and remodeling 157 stores in those states along with Texas, Arizona, Indiana and Pennsylvania. The retailer also will expand its grocery pickup and delivery options in all six states.
The breakdown of investments is as follows:
- Arizona: $71.8 million invested, 14 locations remodeled, grocery pickup expanded to 34 stores, grocery delivery expanded to 20 stores, pickup towers added to 15 stores;
- California: $145 million invested, one new store opened, 20 locations remodeled, grocery pickup expanded to 69 stores, grocery delivery expanded to 27 stores, pickup towers added to 27 stores;
- Florida: $173 million invested, one new store opened, 23 locations remodeled, grocery pickup expanded to 72 stores, grocery delivery added to 63 stores, pickup towers added to 36 stores;
- Indiana: $96.1 million invested, 19 locations remodeled, grocery pickup expanded to 40 stores, grocery delivery added to 36 stores, pickup towers added to 22 stores;
- Pennsylvania: $83 million invested, 15 locations remodeled, grocery pickup expanded to 43 stores, grocery delivery added to 34 stores, pickup towers added to 23 stores; and
- Texas: $264.9 million invested, 54 locationsremodeled, grocery pickup expanded to 74 stores, grocery delivery added to 84 stores, pickup towers added to 82 stores.
The retail giant is adding a total of 900 new pickup towers nationwide, as well as investing in other technology to improve efficiency in stores across the U.S. These initiatives include:
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- 1,200 robotic floor scrubbers that automatically clean and polish floors;
- 300 shelf-scanning robots to help ensure product availability, correct shelf location, and price accuracy; and
- 1,200 automated FAST unloaders that scan and assign shipments to their proper aisles, to minimize the time associates spend in the backroom.
Walmart also is embracing online voice ordering capabilities through Google Assistant. The system tracks shoppers’ preferred brands to simplify purchasing, such as by learning the shoppers’ preferred kind of milk and adding it to their cart when asked to “add milk to my cart.”
