Robotics
Wal-Mart tests inventory robots in the USA
The American supermarket giant Wal-Mart is testing a robot that should greatly reduce inventory costs. In a video published on YouTube, the company showed a machine driving through the aisles and scanning the rows of shelves.
Wal-Mart explained on October 27, 2017, that the system should be able to recognize when goods on the shelves are out of stock or incorrectly priced. At the same time, discounts on products for online sales could be granted in the event of an oversupply. This should give employees more time for customer service, it said. The device will initially be tested in selected supermarkets in the USA.
Brick-and-mortar retailers are under pressure from online retailers such as the global number one Amazon. In the USA, Wal-Mart is feeling the effects of this particularly strongly as the industry leader and is trying to counter this with its own internet offerings, among other things. At the same time, Amazon has now established its own foothold in the bricks-and-mortar business with the acquisition of the Whole Foods Market grocery chain and is reportedly experimenting with highly automated supermarkets that can be operated by just a few employees.
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