October 16, 2012
While Walmart has been making headlines lately with improvements to its technology and Web presence, the force behind the advances is less widely discussed. Known as @WalmartLabs, the San Bruno, Calif.-based workforce is the think tank of innovation for the world’s largest retailer.
According to an article on technologyreview.com, the Silicon Valley lab feels more like an outpost of Google or Facebook than like any part of a global retail corporation that employs 2.2 million associates at nearly 10,000 stores around the globe. Walmart Labs is essential to Walmart's plan for the expansion of its Internet retail business and its goals to reign victoriously over rivals such as Amazon, the article reported.
In other areas, staff are working to develop personalized homepage recommendations and to help Walmart store managers use Twitter trends to make decisions on what products to stock. The company also seeks to combine online data with information gleaned from real-world shoppers in its many stores across the globe, according to the article.
The article points out the saying on a Walmart billboard on Highway 101, a main drag in Silicon Valley, that aptly boasts, "Changing the way people shop. 1,000,000,000 at a time."
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