Starting from this year, Walmart will adding “pickup towers” to its physical stores in the US. Shoppers will be able to retrieve their orders automatically by scanning codes on kiosks inside the store. You can read more about this latest development in the Verge’s coverage here.
What do you think of this idea? Does it beat waiting for home delivery, or traditional in-store pickup? Let us know your thoughts below!
Is it all of Anker’s product line like Amazon or a subset!
Depends how you shop.
If you go to Walmart already then this gives you more choices than the variability of what’s in store.
Due to Amazon home delivery stealing from doorstep, some will prefer a secure pick-up service and if they use Walmart already then that type of person will prefer this.
It beats in store pickup for sure. I always hated standing in line at the service desk while people picked up photos or did layaways…
Home delivery always took a few days but sometimes was cheaper if you chose that option.
I think pickup tower will be good for those 1 or 2 item trips
At our local wally, they just installed the scan and go options, where they put the wireless bar code readers on your cart and you scan the items as you place them in your bag and just pay on the way out the door. It works ok, but I always had that one item that i had to get a cust service person to help with the price, etc.
They are also building a buy online and drive up to the window booth at my local wally. You don’t even have to get out of the car, they load your groceries for you. I am interested to try that out.
When I was a kid growing up in South Calif, they used to have these drive up convenience stores, where you actually pulled inside a garage type store and they would come to your window and take your order and hand it to you through the car window. Very similar to Walmart pickup minus the online aspect. Most ended up closing
Amazon has spoiled me when it comes to shopping. I had to stop at a local drugstore the other day to pickup a birthday card and I thought to myself, “oh, this should only take 4-5 minutes”. I waited in the checkout line for 13 minutes because there was only 1 register open and both customers had issues with their coupons. So much for my “quick” stop…
So I’m all for automating the checkout process as much as possible!
Nice to see walmart take a page out of Sears book. I ordered an item for in store pickup there the other day, you scanned the barcode on your receipt and 5 minutes later my items were brought out. Its really helpful when you dont feel like standing in line for hours on end.
The nearest UK equivalent is Sainsburys supermarket chain acquired an innovator in choosing remotely goods for pickup of Argos. Argos initially was a paper catalogue you could get for free and then go to store and order and pickup. Once the internet arose they put their catalogue online then you could order online and either pickup or have it posted. Once Argos got acquired by Sainsburys you can then do what Walmart is doing of order online then whilst doing your groceries shopping pick-up the item.
Spoiler for some people but this has been implemented in The Home Depot for some months now and is starting to roll out to other stores as well. Walmart got in on it the end of last summer and is looking to use the same vendor as the home depot for the kiosk. I like this idea of quick in and out shopping, but i almost always end up staying longer than i wish to and buying more. marketing strategy is to place deals in and around these kiosk to reel you in and you spend more.
my local supermarket already allows you to order groceries online and pick up in the store, they will be adding curbside pickup in the coming months as well so it will truly be a one stop shop and go. order you groceries online, the associates pick your order, and then when curbside enter your parking number and they load it for you, all in the name of convenience. Best part of all of this is it doesnt cost anything extra
Don’t know why but to me Walmart’s website looks pretty junky can never find anything so i would rather go somewhere else unless i really have to that and can not wait any longer
This is why Trader Joe’s is cheaper, you need food, go to shop only selling food, walk out with only food.
Walk into Walmart wanting only food, walk out with furniture, clothes, etc.
When I do go to Walmart, I ALWAYS use the self-check out, but if I was in a rush, then I just might. I’ve gotten to the point where I know when to avoid my local store.
I think it is unnecessary, at least at my store. I use the app to let them know I’m on my way and I’ve never had to wait more than a minute for my items at the WalMart Pickup counter. I don’t know how a Kiosk can possible be faster than that!
I like the idea. Since I do most of my shopping online, some items that I have delivered are expensive and don’t want it sitting on my doorstep while I’m at work. In those cases I would like to have the item locked up at a hopefully nearby pickup location. What I like about Amazon’s lockers is they are outside and can be accessed anytime. I’m not sure if the Walmart lockers will be available 24x7.
I’ve been to a new walmart in my area that has these pick up bins near the check outs. I’ve never actually seen anyone use them, but it’s an interesting idea. You buy your stuff online and then walmart sends you a code for the locker once the order is picked. Something like this would work well for a few online door buster for black friday, but they will limit use of things like this for those items to keep the battle field fair. For these pick-up kiosk, I wonder how long it takes for an employee to pick your order after it’s submitted. My personal history with walmart employees tell me that it still take a couple days and a handful of employees to get one task completed.
I still prefer home delivery, if I do online shopping, that means I don’t want to waste my transportation time, so why I need to choose pick up my items in walmart…
Save you the cost of shipping?
I‘m rich!!!
(Pretend that I am very rich)
