If curbside continues to explode, maybe Walmart could use these vehicles to deliver packages to cars waiting for pickup at the far reaches of their enormous parking lots.Įven though the pickup towers’ life inside Walmart stores was short, Walmart deserves credit for trying out new tech, and pivoting when it outlived its usefulness. Shipping and trade publication Modern Shipper reported earlier this month that Cleveron has been testing a last-mile delivery vehicle on the streets of Estonia for the past six months. One of the firms, Fabric, sees the potential to link automated fulfillment centers to automated, drive-up pickup lockers.Ī Cleveron spokeswoman told the Journal that “our cooperation with Walmart remains ongoing in other areas.” One of those areas could be autonomous delivery vehicles. 18 earning call that he expects to have over 100 of these fulfillment centers operating at stores in “the next couple of years.” John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart U.S., said in the Feb. It recently announced deals with three robotics firms to build automated fulfillment centers at its stores with the capability of filling hundreds of grocery orders a day, with pickup within an hour possible. ![]() While the automated towers, manufactured by Estonia-based Cleveron, and distributed in this country by Bell & Howell, are getting kicked to the curb, Walmart still remains very much invested in finding ways to automate the customer experience. The print version of the Journal’s story, published April 22, had a somewhat misleading headline: “Walmart’s Robot Vendors Get Kicked to the Curb”. of the towers is now being used as a waiting area for delivery driver pickups. "Hibernated" pickup towers at the Secaucus, N.J. “The consumer told us they want one pickup spot, and they want that pickup spot to be outside, a Walmart spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal, to explain the decision to remove and otherwise “hibernate” the pickup towers. Retailers ramped up their ability to offer curbside pickup, and consumers loved it. Then Covid-19 arrived, and both shoppers, and stores, wanted to keep people out of the stores, while still offering the convenience of a quick purchase at a local store. In-store pickup initially was viewed as a way to make online shopping more convenient, and also as a means of luring online shoppers into stores, in hopes those shoppers would make additional purchases. ![]() Then retailers moved to dedicated pickup desks, with online orders stacked on shelves, ready to be handed to customers as they arrived. Walmart, like other retailers who were among the first to offer in-store pickup, initially had shoppers collect orders at the customer service desk, which often meant having to wait in a long line with shoppers who were returning merchandise.
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