Ohio customers gaining more convenience and shopping options across the state
COLUMBUS, OH, April 10, 2019— Building on its commitment to save customers time and money in new ways,Walmart expects to spend an estimated $81.9 million this year in Ohio through the remodeling of 14 stores, as well as the launch and continued expansion of several customer-focused innovations.
“Customers continue to base their shopping decisions not only on the lowest price but also convenience. In 2019 Walmart will continue to offer innovations that are saving them their money and their time,” said Dann Moore, Walmart Regional General Manager for northwestern, central and southern Ohio. “Our focus has been on making the entire shopping experience, inside our stores and online, easier and more convenient. Our customers tell us our plan is working.”
*Editor’s Note: The photos above, and video, are available for download here.
2019 Walmart Remodels in Ohio
Walmart plans to remodel stores in the following locations:
Remodels
· 2281 US Highway 68 S., Bellefontaine
· 2825 Progress Way, Wilmington
· 354 Pr Dr #288, South Point
· 100 Walmart Drive, Jackson
· 359 N Lexington Springmill Road, Ontario
· 911 Hebron Road, Heath
· 1546 Marion-Mt. Gilead Road, Marion
· 340 Westwind Drive, Norwalk
· 1575 Coshocton Avenue, Mt. Vernon
· 50739 Valley Plaza Drive, Saint Clairsville
· 8659 Columbus Pike, Lewis Center
· 540 Harry Sauner Road, Hillsboro
· 15050 S Springdale Avenue, Middlefield
· 3750 W Market Street, Fairlawn
*Editor’s Note: The photos above, and video, are available for download here.
2019 Walmart Innovations in Ohio
Walmart will continue to innovate to help customers save time and money by creating a seamless shopping experience that gives them the options to shop when, where and how they want. The following are examples of the customer-focused innovations that will be expanded this year in Ohio.
· Busy customers love Walmart’s grocery pickup option. It gives them the convenience of shopping online and the ease of quickly picking up groceries without having to leave their cars. The best part: it’s all at no additional cost. Walmart plans to expand the popular program to 51 stores across the state by the end of the year. The company also recently introduced Walmart Voice Order, which allows customers to simply say “Hey Google, talk to Walmart” and the Google Assistant will add items directly to their Walmart Grocery cart.
(2) Grocery Delivery
· Walmart’s convenient grocery delivery service is also proving to be a hit with customers. This year, Walmart plans to add the service to 27 stores, increasing its coverage area in the state.
· Walmart Pickup Towers are 16-feet tall, high-tech vending machines capable of fulfilling a customer’s online order in less than a minute once they arrive at the store. It’s easy to do– once the order is ready, step up to the Pickup Tower and scan the barcode sent to your smartphone to retrieve your item. This year, Walmart plans to add 19 Pickup Towers to stores across the state.
(4) FAST Unloader
· Today, product is unloaded as it arrives at the store through a complex, highly manual process that has seen little innovation over the last 50 years – until now. A new system in Walmart backrooms– known as FAST-automatically scans and sorts items that come off trucks based on priority and department, allowing associates to spend less time unloading in the backroom and more time on the sales floor with customers. This year, Walmart plans to expand the technology to 46 stores across the state.
(5) Autonomous Floor Scrubber
· The autonomous floor scrubber uses assisted autonomy technology to perform the task of cleaning and scrubbing the concrete floors in stores.The company plans to expand the technology to 63 stores across the state this year.
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Background and Context
· Capital and Innovation Expenditure: The estimated spend in the state this fiscal year (Feb. 1, 2019 – Jan. 31, 2020) is a portion of Walmart’s total capital expenditure guidance of approximately $11.0 billion for Fiscal Year 2020, which was outlined last October at the company’s annual meeting for the investment community and reiterated in February 2019.
· National Innovation Expansion Strategy: Nationwide this fiscal year Walmart plans to add an additional 1,200 autonomous floor scrubbers, 300 autonomous shelf-scanners, 1,200 FAST unloaders and 900 Pickup Towers to stores across the country. Also, the company plans to expand Online Grocery Pickup to an additional 1,000 stores and add another 800 stores across the country to the retailer’s Grocery Delivery footprint.
About Walmart in Ohio
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail stores, online and through their mobile devices. In Ohio we serve customers at 171 retail units and online through Walmart Online Grocery, http://Walmart.com and our family of brands. We are proud to employ 49,330 associates in Ohio. Walmart supports local businesses, spending $17 billion with Ohio suppliers in FYE 2019 and supporting 138,631 Ohio supplier jobs. Walmart continues to be a leader in employment opportunity, sustainability, and corporate philanthropy. In FY 2018, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation contributed more than $51.3 million in cash and in-kind donations to local nonprofits in Ohio and our Ohio associates volunteered more than 24,000 hours with local causes. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting our corporate website and our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter channels.