August 17, 2018 • 5 mins
Walmart is installing giant vending machines called Pickup Towers in stores nationwide in an effort to make picking up online orders easy, fast and fun.See the giant pickup tower in action:https://youtu.be/71pgd-LzzXcFollow Rich on Social Media:Facebook: http://facebook.com/RichOnTechTwitter: http://twitter.com/richdemuroInstagram: http://instagram.com/richontech Easy ways to listen on your phone or smart speaker:"Hey Google, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Hey Siri, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Alexa, Enable the Rich on Tech Flash Briefing"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Trying out Walmart's giant new in store vending machines. What's
going on. I'm rich Demiro. This is Rich on tech.
Walmart is going to war against Amazon. They're testing out
new technologies to make it easier for you to get
your stuff no matter how you want to shop, whether
it's in store, online, or a combination of both. Now,
this is going to be especially crucial because Amazon is
(00:26):
integrating their whole foods purchase into its operations more and more,
using them as a place to pick up orders, drop
off returns, sell Amazon Stuff service, grocery pickup and delivery hubs,
and much more. Basically, these two companies have a lot
at stake. So one of the things that Walmart is
doing is something called a pickup tower. This is a
(00:46):
sixteen foot tall giant vending machine that they're installing in
stores nationwide. They tested the technology in two hundred stores.
Apparently customers love them. Now they're expanding the technology to
an additional five hundred stores by the end of the year. Now,
they just install one in Lancaster, California. So I headed
there to check it out, and it is massive. You
can't miss it. It's right near the front door when
(01:08):
you walk in. Here's Walmart's Tiffany Wilson.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Pickup tower is essentially a sixteen foot tall vending machine
that we have in our stores. You pick an item
or a number of items on walmart dot com. You
have millions of items to choose from, and when your
item is available, you get an email notification with a
bar code. You walk up and scan that bar code,
and your item is vended to you. So it's a
very easy, fast, convenient way to shop and pick up
(01:33):
your items in store, so you can get in, get out,
get what you need, and move on with your day.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
So basically, you order something online, you choose in store, pickup,
and associate in the store grabs your item or items.
They load it into the machine, and then you can
come back and pick it up at your leisure. Apparently
they hold your item for seven days. The machine is
really fast at retrieving your items, so you don't need
to talk to anyone or wait in any sort of
line unless there's someone else picking up an item before you.
(01:58):
Now I've done online pickup at Target and Best Buy,
and basically the process is kind of the same, but
minus the humans.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Other processes include coming through the store and picking all
those items yourself. You could also use pickup today, which
involves going to a calendar and standing in line and
picking up your item. So this is just another option,
giving customers another option of shopping, whether they like to
shop online, in store, or a combination of the two.
It's just another fresh way to shop and it's easy,
(02:27):
it's fast, and it's fun.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Now you might be thinking, well, can't Amazon deliver to
my house in an hour? Well, yeah, that's great if
you live in an area that offers that I happen to,
and yes, it is great. But I can see how
this has appueled nationwide and in every single little town
that Walmart operates a store in. You order something online
at work and you pick it up on your way home.
It's a fast and easy process.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's great for busy families. It's great for folks who
don't have a lot of time in their day, don't
have time to shop, so you let someone else essentially
do the shopping for you, and all you have to
do is just pick it up.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
There's no additional fee for the service. Now, if there
was one, that would really be bad, because I don't
think it would be very popular and as for time,
Walmart's website says your online order should be ready for
pick up within four hours. Now. I haven't tested the
service from start to finish by placing a real online order,
but I imagine that they work in a buffer here and
often orders might be ready faster than that. They will
text you or email you when your order's ready. But
(03:21):
I can also see how this service will be slammed
during the holidays. So what about that all important jword jobs.
The pickup tower itself is automated, but you do need
some folks to load it up.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
We've seen new jobs created because of the pickup towers,
because of online grocery pickup and all the different new
technologies that we have in store. So we're retraining our associates,
we're bringing on new associates for these particular jobs. So
we're saying really good growth.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
One more Walmart program I checked out online grocery ordering pickup.
One more Walmart program I checked out is online grocery
ordering pickup. You place a grocery order online, then you
choose a pickup window time, Then you head to the store.
You park an especially labeled spot, call a number, and
wait for someone to come out and load your order
into your car. Now, if you have kids in car seats,
this can be really handy. They'll put everything in your
(04:07):
car for you. And if you're wondering, can you trust
someone to pick out your produce and meat, well, you
might be surprised to find out that Walmart has already
thought of that.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I think it'll be really impressed with the skills that
they have to pick out groceries for you. So they're
trained for weeks. This is their specific role, their personal shoppers.
And this is a job that we never had in
the store before the existence of online grocery pickup. So yes,
they're trained for several weeks. They know how to pick
out the best tomato. They know how to look for
beastings on the watermelon and how hollow it should be
(04:37):
when you knock on it.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
And I did ask about tipping. While Amazon encourages you
to tip your Prime Now and grocery delivery folks, Walmart
told me that tips aren't just discouraged, but associates aren't
allowed to accept them. By the way, these innovations seem
to be working. Walmart just reported some of their best
quarterly performance in a decade and online sales are up
forty percent. Question is does Walmart need to get the
(05:01):
whole food slash Amazon crowd to change their habits or
just get more of their own customers to modify theirs.
Thanks so much for listening. If you want a link
to watch the video of the pickup tower in action,
go to my website. It is richontech dot tv. I'm Richdemiro.
I'll talk to you real soon.
Trying out Walmart's giant new in store vending machines. What's
going on. I'm rich Demiro. This is Rich on tech.
Walmart is going to war against Amazon. They're testing out
new technologies to make it easier for you to get
your stuff no matter how you want to shop, whether
it's in store, online, or a combination of both. Now,
this is going to be especially crucial because Amazon is
(00:26):
integrating their whole foods purchase into its operations more and more,
using them as a place to pick up orders, drop
off returns, sell Amazon Stuff service, grocery pickup and delivery hubs,
and much more. Basically, these two companies have a lot
at stake. So one of the things that Walmart is
doing is something called a pickup tower. This is a
(00:46):
sixteen foot tall giant vending machine that they're installing in
stores nationwide. They tested the technology in two hundred stores.
Apparently customers love them. Now they're expanding the technology to
an additional five hundred stores by the end of the year. Now,
they just install one in Lancaster, California. So I headed
there to check it out, and it is massive. You
can't miss it. It's right near the front door when
(01:08):
you walk in. Here's Walmart's Tiffany Wilson.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Pickup tower is essentially a sixteen foot tall vending machine
that we have in our stores. You pick an item
or a number of items on walmart dot com. You
have millions of items to choose from, and when your
item is available, you get an email notification with a
bar code. You walk up and scan that bar code,
and your item is vended to you. So it's a
very easy, fast, convenient way to shop and pick up
(01:33):
your items in store, so you can get in, get out,
get what you need, and move on with your day.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
So basically, you order something online, you choose in store, pickup,
and associate in the store grabs your item or items.
They load it into the machine, and then you can
come back and pick it up at your leisure. Apparently
they hold your item for seven days. The machine is
really fast at retrieving your items, so you don't need
to talk to anyone or wait in any sort of
line unless there's someone else picking up an item before you.
(01:58):
Now I've done online pickup at Target and Best Buy,
and basically the process is kind of the same, but
minus the humans.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Other processes include coming through the store and picking all
those items yourself. You could also use pickup today, which
involves going to a calendar and standing in line and
picking up your item. So this is just another option,
giving customers another option of shopping, whether they like to
shop online, in store, or a combination of the two.
It's just another fresh way to shop and it's easy,
(02:27):
it's fast, and it's fun.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Now you might be thinking, well, can't Amazon deliver to
my house in an hour? Well, yeah, that's great if
you live in an area that offers that I happen to,
and yes, it is great. But I can see how
this has appueled nationwide and in every single little town
that Walmart operates a store in. You order something online
at work and you pick it up on your way home.
It's a fast and easy process.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's great for busy families. It's great for folks who
don't have a lot of time in their day, don't
have time to shop, so you let someone else essentially
do the shopping for you, and all you have to
do is just pick it up.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
There's no additional fee for the service. Now, if there
was one, that would really be bad, because I don't
think it would be very popular and as for time,
Walmart's website says your online order should be ready for
pick up within four hours. Now. I haven't tested the
service from start to finish by placing a real online order,
but I imagine that they work in a buffer here and
often orders might be ready faster than that. They will
text you or email you when your order's ready. But
(03:21):
I can also see how this service will be slammed
during the holidays. So what about that all important jword jobs.
The pickup tower itself is automated, but you do need
some folks to load it up.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
We've seen new jobs created because of the pickup towers,
because of online grocery pickup and all the different new
technologies that we have in store. So we're retraining our associates,
we're bringing on new associates for these particular jobs. So
we're saying really good growth.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
One more Walmart program I checked out online grocery ordering pickup.
One more Walmart program I checked out is online grocery
ordering pickup. You place a grocery order online, then you
choose a pickup window time, Then you head to the store.
You park an especially labeled spot, call a number, and
wait for someone to come out and load your order
into your car. Now, if you have kids in car seats,
this can be really handy. They'll put everything in your
(04:07):
car for you. And if you're wondering, can you trust
someone to pick out your produce and meat, well, you
might be surprised to find out that Walmart has already
thought of that.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I think it'll be really impressed with the skills that
they have to pick out groceries for you. So they're
trained for weeks. This is their specific role, their personal shoppers.
And this is a job that we never had in
the store before the existence of online grocery pickup. So yes,
they're trained for several weeks. They know how to pick
out the best tomato. They know how to look for
beastings on the watermelon and how hollow it should be
(04:37):
when you knock on it.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
And I did ask about tipping. While Amazon encourages you
to tip your Prime Now and grocery delivery folks, Walmart
told me that tips aren't just discouraged, but associates aren't
allowed to accept them. By the way, these innovations seem
to be working. Walmart just reported some of their best
quarterly performance in a decade and online sales are up
forty percent. Question is does Walmart need to get the
(05:01):
whole food slash Amazon crowd to change their habits or
just get more of their own customers to modify theirs.
Thanks so much for listening. If you want a link
to watch the video of the pickup tower in action,
go to my website. It is richontech dot tv. I'm Richdemiro.
I'll talk to you real soon.
Host
Rich DeMuro
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