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Walmart Announces to Shut Down More Stores by 2024

Walmart Announces to Shut Down More Stores by 2024

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As 2024 draws to a close, the retail sector’s terrain becomes more apparent. While some businesses are experiencing success, others are facing difficulties. Giants in the retail industry including Macy’s, Kohl’s, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree have already announced that they would be closing their stores due to a drop in foot traffic and revenues.

Effect of Economic Conditions

Walmart Announces to Shut Down More Stores by 2024

Image Source: news-journal.com

Record-high rates of inventory shrinkage from theft are making matters worse for the retail industry. Furthermore, consumers have been forced to tighten their budgets due to skyrocketing costs in a number of areas, including food and energy, which has resulted in a decrease in spending on discretionary products.

Consumer Price Index Insights

With prices up 3.2% from the prior year and 0.4% in February, the most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) statistics highlight the inflationary pressures on consumers. Important expenses like clothing, petrol, and energy have seen significant hikes, severely taxing household finances.

Walmart's Reaction

These difficulties have affected even the massive retail chain Walmart. The firm shuttered about 24 locations in 2023 as a result of poor performance and the slump in the economy. Walmart continues to lose money even after making large expenditures in some areas due to ongoing difficulties.

Announcements of Store Closures

Walmart declared the closing of two locations in California in January 2024 alone. The retail behemoth has now announced intentions to close two more stores, bringing the total for the year’s shop closures to six. The impacted establishments are located in California and the Baltimore region of Maryland.

Also Read: Samsung’s $6 Billion Investment Plan Set to Expand US Reach

Reasons for Closure

Walmart did not disclose specifics, although it blamed poor performance for the closures. The choice demonstrates the business’s dedication to maximising the variety of stores it owns and guaranteeing its long-term survival in a demanding retail market.

In conclusion, the news that Walmart will close its stores in 2024 highlights how the retail industry is changing and how important it is for businesses to adjust to shifting consumer demands and market circumstances. Strategic choices like closing stores become crucial for preserving growth and competitiveness as the retail environment changes.

Walmart Launches its First AI Store, Isn’t Trying to Replace Humans with Machines

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Last
year, Amazon launched a chain of its AI-powered convenience stores,
i.e. Amazon Go. The stores are cashier-less and have cameras all
around in the stores to charge the customers automatically.
Yesterday, Walmart, the biggest retail store franchise, also launched
an AI-powered store, i.e. Intelligent Retail Lab (IRL), in Levittown,
New York, which is a bit different from its contemporary Amazon’s
cashier-less stores.

Walmart has launched a store similar to its other stores, except it will be operated by intelligent technology. The new Walmart store, like Amazon Go, has got cameras over the ceiling, but these cameras have not been installed to automatically charge the customers but will keep the track of the inventory of the store.

walmart IRL store
Image Source: Tech Crunch

Yes!
The company has confirmed that now the store will be able to manage
the inventory through AI. Reportedly, if any of the items get out of
stock, even from a single shelf, the cameras will inform the sales
persons around, to restock the shelves. Also, if a fresh fruit has
been on the shelf for a longer time, the cameras will indicate the
sales persons to replace that fruit with a fresh one. E.g. if bananas
on a shelf have got bruises, the cameras will ask the salesperson to
replace them. This way, the salespersons will not have to roam around
the store all the time to keep a check on the inventory and will only
go to the back-inventory when the cameras will notify them for
replacement or to re-stock the shelves.

Since
operating so many cameras all the time will require a lot of data and
data storage, the company has built a data centre in the inventory
itself. Though the data will be stored only for a week, the sensors
and the cameras will pump out 1.6 TB of data per second.

Since it is not a cashier-less store, like Amazon Go, the store is having over 100 employees and is selling over 30,000 items. Also, the store is a 50,000 square foot store, having giant servers bathed in the blue light situated inside the store, which can be easily seen by the public. Also, the retailer has built an AI-powered informational store and a Welcome store for its customers, where they can know about its technical specifications.

For
the people who are with the shoppers, can spend their time in front
of the AI-powered interactive wall, built inside the store. The wall
is able to imitate the body gestures and postures by estimating body
positions and is quite a good pass time.

By far, the new Walmart store is quite interesting, and it seems that the company is trying to take full advantage of AI by making its use in most practical ways. And, the company has ensured that it is not up to replacing the human jobs at all, but is trying to reduce the workload for its staff.