Walmart is planning to increase the number of local supply centers in the United States, it announced on Wednesday. Walmart’s approach to more localized distribution centers is a direct parallel to Amazon’s strategy, as both companies continue to face a growing demand for online orders. The new distribution centers are warehouses that will be built in or adjacent to existing retail locations.
Walmart’s first distribution center opened in 2019 in Salem, New Hampshire, when the retail giant began testing the concept. These depots use wheeled robots – called Alphabots – to choose items from the shelves and prepare orders placed online.
Alphabots retrieves items ordered online, such as packaged or frozen items. However, the company said its human employees would still be tasked with picking up fresh items like meat and produce, in addition to larger items.
Walmart is testing new technologies for some of its distribution centers, such as an automatic sidewalk pickup feature that will allow buyers or delivery drivers to drive to a specific location, scan a code, pick up their order and leave, all without get out of your vehicles.
Walmart did not say which locations will receive add-ons from the distribution center, but the company announced on its blog that it is already planning “dozens of locations, with many more to come.”