At Walmart, we help people around the world save money and live better. What started small, with a single discount store and the simple idea of selling more for less, has grown over the last 50+ years into the largest retailer in the world. Each week, nearly 275 million customers and members visit our more than 11,300 stores under 58 banners in 27 countries and eCommerce websites. Walmart, with its large brick-and-mortar footprint and fast-growing eCommerce businesses, is creating an omnichannel experience that lets customers shop intelligently anytime and anywhere.
Hear Walmart’s 2020 Challenges:
WHY WE’VE PARTNERED WITH MASSCHALLENGE:
Customers are busier than ever. In addition to great value, our customers increasingly expect convenience, speed, flexibility and security in their shopping experiences. Walmart is innovating and leveraging technology to meet their expectations. We believe that by being aggressive, staying nimble, moving with speed and taking risks, we can provide customers with more creative ways to save time and money while redefining how digital and physical shopping work together.
OUR CHALLENGES:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been identified as the capability expected to impact commerce the most over the next five years. The confluence of exponential growth of data and smarter algorithms has driven artificial intelligence and applications such as machine learning and robotic process automation to the center of retail and eCommerce. AI will power customer experiences online and in-store as well as the internal processes that allow our business units to operate seamlessly across the enterprise. We believe these tools have the potential to be as transformative to retail as eCommerce has been. (Learn more about how Walmart is testing the application of AI to the in-store experience here).
Walmart recorded $514.4 billion in fiscal year 2019 revenue across multiple retail brands, formats, channels, and customer experiences. This requires complex operations related to processing consumer payments. Customers shop with us when, where, and how they want, and our technology and processes in-store, online, in-app, and in the back office should support and mirror any combination of behaviors that deliver value to the customer. Walmart can provide a best-in-class experience by offering payment solutions consumers will utilize every day, while simultaneously investing in more intelligent internal processing solutions.
We are looking for FinTech partners interested in the following areas:
1) AI-powered business tools: work with Walmart to drive efficiencies in processing how consumers pay for their purchases – minimizing downtime in lane, online and in-app; reducing the rate of declined transactions; enabling sales; and reducing costs – by collaborating in areas such as:
- Intelligent payment processing/routing for customer transactions
- Customer data aggregation and decisioning
- Automated reconciliation
- Refund disbursement
2) Customer-facing products: use AI solutions to help Walmart transform and improve our customers’ payments experiences to make them fast, easy and seamless, while providing customers with the security and protection they need.
HOW WE WILL HELP STARTUPS GROW THEIR BUSINESSES:
Scale. Over 150 million Americans shop at Walmart every week in the U.S. 150 million. With the support of the world’s largest retailer, a startup is uniquely positioned to make a positive impact at a massive, national scale.
We want to be ready for new ways that customers will engage with our brands and shop with us in the future. Walmart is excited to collaborate with startups to drive this innovation and become a thought leader in the retail industry and beyond. The startup community can help us evaluate emerging trends related to consumer needs in FinTech and deliver next-gen capabilities that have the potential to transform our business.
Innovative thinking and an unwavering commitment to saving people money – we are grounded in our mission and are dedicated to identifying, inventing and investing in big ideas that will transform the customer experience. Let’s work together to test the big ideas that will shape the future of commerce.
Hear other FinTech Partner Challenges here!
Stay up to date with MassChallenge by signing up to our newsletter below.
