Walmart announced on Thursday (1st) the expansion of Shop to Light, a feature that allows locating products in stores using the retailer's app. When searching for an item, the customer can trigger a small LED on the corresponding digital label, which starts blinking on the shelf and indicates its exact position.
The feature leverages the digital label infrastructure the retailer had already been installing to replace paper labels. The same hardware now also handles internal tasks tied to restocking merchandise and picking orders placed online.
In Stock to Light, employees use mobile devices to trigger the label's light and quickly identify where each product should be placed. Meanwhile, the Pick to Light uses the LED to locate the correct item while preparing orders for pickup or delivery.
As a result, a technology initially associated with price updates now works as a physical layer connected to the operation's digital systems. For Walmart, this reduces the time spent searching for products by both consumers and employees responsible for inventory and e-commerce.
Technology is already in more than 4,300 stores
Digital labels are already present in more than 4,300 stores Walmart stores in the United States. The company plans to bring Shop to Light, Stock to Light and Pick to Light to its stores before the holiday season.
Shop to Light began reaching a limited number of locations during the American summer and has already recorded 5 million activations by customers, according to Greg Cathey, senior vice president of digital transformation at Walmart.
The expansion comes as digital labels gain more functions inside physical stores. In addition to displaying prices, they now connect the app used by consumers, restocking systems and the operation responsible for preparing purchases made online.
Walmart states that the labels do not set prices automatically and that prices continue to be approved centrally. According to the company, the devices also do not have cameras or microphones and do not collect information capable of identifying or tracking customers inside stores.
