Walmart opens new 'high-tech' distribution center to deliver orders at lightning speed!

Walmart has opened a new “high-tech” distribution center at one of its stores, highlighting how the brick-and-mortar retailer is differentiating itself from pure e-commerce platforms. Walmart Marketplace Fulfillment Centers (MFCs) are “modular warehouses built within or added to stores,” according to a company statement.

The new MFC, located in one of its stores in Arkansas, is equipped with a high-tech storage and retrieval system called the "Alphabot." According to the company, the Alphabot system provides faster and more accurate fulfillment of online orders, significantly increasing the number of orders that the store can complete in a day, while also giving employees more time to focus on serving customers.

“We’re innovating every day to create better shopping experiences on every platform,” said Prathibha Rajashekar, senior vice president of innovation and automation at Walmart. “To help our customers and associates live better lives, we’re using technology to help them save time. This improves the experience for everyone, no matter how they shop — and moves our entire business forward in the process.”

As stated last year, Walmart has an existing network of e-commerce fulfillment centers that are separate from its stores, when it explained that it uses its "31 dedicated e-commerce fulfillment centers and 4,700 stores, which are located within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population, to fulfill online orders at lightning speeds."

The new Arkansas Marketplace fulfillment center is only the second one Walmart has opened. It began piloting its first Marketplace fulfillment center in New Hampshire in late 2019. Walmart said in a press release Monday that it plans to continue opening MFCs in select stores in the coming years.

Walmart has closed 23 stores in the United States this year, according to the New York Daily News. The reason is that these branches have poor financial performance. Walmart closes several stores in different states every year. The reason is that these stores did not achieve the expected results.

Walmart recently announced that it will close a store in Kansas City, Kansas on June 2. They made this decision after reviewing several factors, including the store's financial performance, in addition to Walmart also reported in April that it would close four stores in Chicago due to heavy economic losses.

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