Walmart Innovation Strategy

With the fast development of technology and globalization, the market becomes more competitive, and customers demand increase. As a result, companies such as Walmart, Target, Amazon, Costco, and Kroger were forced to implement new strategies and invest billions of dollars in technology to face competitiveness, increase market share, ensure leadership positioning, attract and retain its customers. Walmart innovation strategy relies on disruptive innovation. Consumer demand is changing all the time, and Walmart responsibility is to connect its products with customers whenever and wherever they are, so they can save money and live better (Walmart, 2016).
Walmart for the last years as spent billions of dollars in IT. In 2015, the company had invested

Walmart embraces new technology to become closer to its customers, to become an innovator in the way restock their shelves, stores track inventory and drive sustainability progress. Walmart supply chain technology allows them to accurately forecast demand, monitor and predict inventory levels, manage customer relationships, create highly efficient transportation routes, and manage service response logistics. For example, Walmart uses cross docking as inventory tactic. Cross docking allows them to reload inventory efficiently. The products are channeled from suppliers to company’s warehouses without sitting for extended periods of time in stock. This strategy allows Walmart to reduce its costs meaningfully, and they passed those savings on to their customers with highly competitive pricing (Lu, 2014). Furthermore, Walmart implemented a Universal Code bar codes that allow them to collect faster and analyze all store level of the information. Still, Walmart implemented a direct Link (Bentonville database) that enable them to have faster access to its sales data from cash registers and to Walmart’s distribution centers (Lu, 2014). Though,

This allows Walmart to meet more online orders and maximize inventory turnovers due the efficient e-commerce inventory (Wama, 2016). Also, through the My Productive app available for all Walmart’s members, managers can answer customer questions, have an access real-time trend and sales data, and reload specific items. Through the app, managers can also review the client 's feedback from receipt surveys as they are submitted ( Ibbotson, 2016). This allows managers to be aware and react to potential issues faster than ever before. Thus, Walmart uses smart tags with a scanner to enable employees to fast realize what products need to be supplanted so that shelves are reliably supplied, and inventory is nearly viewed