Walmart to sell its AI logistics tool to other businesses

Walmart continues growing as a technology vendor.

Walmart Commerce Technologies, the retail giant's solution provider subsidiary, will sell its proprietary internal artificial intelligence (AI)-based logistics solution called “Route Optimization” to third-party business customers of all sizes. Walmart will offer the technology on a hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis.

Walmart says it has been using Route Optimization for years to create a more efficient supply chain by minimizing miles traveled and improving the efficiency of trailer packing, while helping ensure items are in the optimal location to fulfill customer demand. 

According to Walmart, by using the solution, the chain has  avoided 94 million pounds of CO² by eliminating 30 million unnecessary miles driven and optimized routes to bypass 110,000 inefficient paths. Walmart won the Franz Edelman Award in 2023 for building and deploying the technology at scale.

Specific features of Route Optimization include:

• AI-driven automated route mapping that considers factors such as time, location, and store delivery window.
• Packing trailers to maximize space while helping to ensure temperature-controlled items stay fresh.
• Ensuring stores receive deliveries on time, regardless of external variables, by leveraging weather and traffic patterns and pivoting as needed.
• Strategically planning inventory pickup (backhauls) on return trips from deliveries to ensure trailers are never empty, helping ensure efficiency and a greener footprint.
• Providing on-demand insights such as trailer usage, trip time and distance traveled without cargo to help operations management teams make faster, more informed decisions.

Route Optimization is Walmart’s second turnkey, white-label solution. In April 2023, Walmart Commerce Technologies partnered with Infosys to offer a new app for store associates called Store Assist. Based on the same fulfillment technology used at Walmart stores, Store Assist is designed to support seamless omnichannel offerings such as pickup, delivery and ship from store.

In another example of Walmart creating a third-party version of its proprietary technology and services to provide other retailers, Walmart launched Walmart GoLocal to deliver goods to customers of other businesses in August 2021. 

The retailer has since partnered with e-commerce platform provider Cognetry Labs to provide an integrated white label, turnkey e-commerce delivery solution to mid-sized and independent grocery retailers.

In addition, Walmart partners with Salesforce to make Store Assist and GoLocal available to other retailers through Salesforce and listed in the Salesforce AppExchange.

"We have invested significant time, resources and operational knowhow into building solutions like Route Optimization, but that can be a barrier for many businesses," said Anshu Bhardwaj, senior VP and COO, Walmart Global Tech and Walmart Commerce Technologies. "By adopting our at-scale, AI-powered tech, businesses can eliminate the need and expense of developing their own technology, and instead focus on what they do best – serve their customers."

Based in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart Inc. operates more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries.