Walmart Unveils A New Lab Store Using AI

The Walmart stores of the future has just been unveiled at the Neighborhood Market in Levittown, New York. The unit, called IRL (Intelligent Retail Lab), is a 50,000 square foot store and uses AI to insure in-stock position and freshness of such perishable items like produce and meat. Mike Hanrahan, CEO of IRL, says that, “customers can be confident about products being there, about freshness of produce and meat”. It will be a more efficient experience for customers who now can be assured that their shopping trip will be successful. The demonstration I saw was in the meat department. Meat was out of stock, and this was flashed to a Walmart associate to address. In some ways, it is reminiscent of the Amazon Go store which allows for customers to pick-up and go home with their purchase. But Walmart did not go in the same direction; the technology in use here resolves issues with product availability, and customers still have to go to a check-out counter to purchase their selection. Read more at Forbes.