Walmart is finding new and innovative ways to serve customers through Grocery Pickup and Delivery. Walmart is testing capabilities that are shaping the future of retail, such as exploring a few pilot projects with self-driving car companies to start understanding how customers, including customers with disabilities, can benefit from this fast approaching innovation. Through the pilots, Walmart seeks to learn how using self-driving vehicles to deliver fresh groceries to customers may help make the shopping experience with Walmart even better and more convenient for all customers. Walmart is developing partnerships with organizations like the National Council on Independent Living as part of their commitment to accessibility for all customers.
Walmart has also expanded voice ordering capabilities through Google Assistant and Siri. Walmart Voice Order is a service that gives customers the option to add items to their Walmart Online Grocery Cart by simply speaking to these devices. This innovation helps customers be able to order products more conveniently. The more a customer uses it, the more seamless the experience becomes, as the system learns from their purchase history information. For example, if a customer says, “add orange juice to my cart,” Walmart can add the specific orange juice the customer buys regularly using this service. Instead of saying “Great Value organic orange juice with no pulp,” they’ll simply say: “orange juice” and a personal shopper will add the right one.
Walmart’s Grocery Pickup and Delivery is perfect for anyone who dislikes traditional in-store grocery shopping, whether because they find it difficult or for other reasons. Grocery Pickup and Delivery is ideal for people who want to save time, who prefer not to enter a store to shop, perhaps who do not have transportation or who simply do not want to drive that day, or who find online ordering to be the most comfortable or accessible option for them. With Walmart’s Grocery Pickup and Delivery, customers with disabilities can grocery shop independently.
Walmart is also looking at ways to make Grocery Pickup and Delivery available to more customers. Walmart believes access to convenience and to quality, fresh groceries should not be dictated by a person’s ability to physically get the products or by how much you can pay. This year, Walmart introduced a pay at pickup option that allows families using SNAP benefits to pay when they pick up their groceries. Walmart was one of the first retailers to pilot this option for SNAP payments, and the first retailer to offer it at scale.
These innovations are designed to help all of Walmart’s customers have a shopping experience that is second to none. But Walmart is particularly excited about these innovations for our customers who, because of disabilities, age-related concerns, or other issues, may have sometimes been limited in their shopping opportunities. It is hoped that these improvements will help lead people with disabilities and others to live better lives all while saving money doing so.
