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Walmart unveils AI tools and faster fulfillment options to integrate its online marketplace with physical stores, enhancing seller efficiency.
The "Store of the Future" in Texas uses QR codes to merge physical aisles with online selections, creating a hybrid retail model.
Walmart expands next-day delivery in major cities and reduces seller fees for pet supplies and toys to compete with Amazon.
AI is also being used to combat fraudulent sellers and counterfeit goods, maintaining marketplace integrity.
At its recent "Let's Grow!" Seller Summit, Walmart announced a major push to integrate its sprawling online marketplace with its physical stores, arming its third-party merchants with new AI-powered tools and faster fulfillment to better compete in the e-commerce arms race.
An AI for every seller: To build on its marketplace momentum, which saw sales jump nearly 20% last quarter, Walmart is rolling out a suite of AI tools to help merchants operate more efficiently. The toolkit includes an AI-Powered Listing Tool and a Smart Assistant, designed to get products online faster and provide support. In a statement, Walmart SVP Manish Joneja said the company is focused on "seller success and delivering exceptional experiences for customers.”
The aisle is now an app: The strategy's most visible component is happening in a new "Store of the Future" in Texas, where in-store QR codes effectively turn the physical aisle into a portal for the marketplace's much vaster online selection. The move signals a new hybrid model where online-only items get a physical showroom, blurring the line between the company's two core retail channels.
Delivering the goods: Walmart is also taking direct aim at Amazon’s logistics dominance by expanding its next-day delivery capabilities in major cities and offering aggressive new incentives ahead of the holidays, including slashing referral fees by 50% for pet supplies and eliminating them entirely for qualifying toys.
While the AI tools and faster shipping are table stakes against Amazon, integrating the online marketplace with its thousands of physical stores is a move only Walmart can make, weaponizing its massive brick-and-mortar footprint as its key advantage.
Also on our radar: Beyond seller tools, Walmart is also deploying AI to combat fraudulent sellers and counterfeit goods to maintain marketplace integrity. The recent announcements are just one piece of the company's broader AI ambitions, which include developing "super agents" for shoppers and creating “digital twins” of its stores to improve physical operations.
