Walmart is strengthening its grocery network with five new high-tech fresh food distribution centers in California, Illinois, New Jersey, South Carolina and Texas.
These developments alone will create nearly 2,000 new jobs and strengthen supply chain capacity. The retailer will also expand automation at four existing facilities in Minnesota, North Carolina, Indiana and Tennessee, adding at least 500,000 square feet of automation per facility. The automation improvements are targeted at the company’s handling of fresh products.
Additionally, Walmart is retrofitting its facilities with advanced technology to align with its more modernized distribution centers. Specifically, the company announced in a press release that it plans to upgrade its outdated facility in Winter Haven, Florida, with a similar approach to its upgraded facility in Brooksville, Florida. This technology investment is aimed at significantly increasing storage capacity and processing speeds to better meet growing customer demand.
Additionally, Walmart has highlighted the transformative impact of technology on job roles, shifting physically demanding jobs to positions where employees operate and maintain high-tech systems. Former manual laborers are now working as automated equipment operators, control center operators, technicians, or managers, experiencing increased job satisfaction and, in many cases, higher salaries.
In its announcement, Walmart claimed it was “the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with our grocery network supporting more than 4,600 stores and a large pickup and delivery operation that continues to grow as customers seek the convenience and value we offer.”
To maintain its self-proclaimed title and stay ahead of the competition, Walmart recognized that meeting customer demands was a top priority. Getting fresh food to consumers is one key way to do that. The company outlined its new and improved process with upgraded technology:
- Cases arrive from farmers or suppliers, are removed from the pallets and inspected.
- All items are then moved into a temperature-controlled environment and stored in an 80-foot-tall automated storage system.
- When it’s time to assemble a store order, the system picks the required cases and assembles pallets for each department of the store, facilitating easy unloading.
- The most fragile items (such as fruit and eggs) are given priority at the top of the pallet.
- Finally, the pallets are fully packaged and loaded onto a delivery truck for dispatch.
As Walmart upgrades its grocery supply chain, other grocery retailers must adapt and find an advantage to survive and compete. Walmart has almost always been the lowest price leader and has the ability and resources to offer low prices on almost every product at any given time. However, prices will not fall much until most products and retailers level the playing field.
That’s why Walmart decided to focus on its delivery business, especially since Amazon announced a new grocery subscription and delivery service for its Prime members. The service will allow Amazon to compete in the grocery sector by offering low prices and fast delivery. Kroger, another major retailer, is busy finalizing its merger with Albertsons.
Walmart’s success has always impacted local communities in different ways, and as Walmart continues to strengthen its grocery business, local supermarket retailers may also feel the strain and will need to find ways to maintain a presence.
