Walmart is scaling the number of stores that will also serve as local fulfillment centres (LFCs), which are compact, modular warehouse built within, or added to, a store. In addition to fresh and frozen items, LFCs can store items customers want most, from consumables to electronics. The company is planning dozens of such locations, with many more to come.
Instead of an associate walking the store to fulfill an order from our shelves, automated bots retrieve the items from within the LFC. The items are then brought to a picking workstation, where the order can be assembled with speed, Tom Ward, senior vice president of customer product, Walmart US, wrote on the company's website.Walmart is scaling the number of stores that will also serve as local fulfillment centres (LFCs), which are compact, modular warehouse built within, or added to, a store. In addition to fresh and frozen items, LFCs can store items customers want most, from consumables to electronics. The company is planning dozens of such locations, with many more to come.#
While the system retrieves the order for assembly, a personal shopper handpicks fresh items like produce, meat and seafood, and large general merchandise from the sales floor, he wrote.
Once the order is collected, the system stores it until it’s ready for pickup. This whole process can take just a few minutes from the time the order is placed to the time it’s ready for a customer or delivery driver to collect.
The company began piloting its first LFC in Salem, New Hampshire, in late 2019, and the results, according to Ward, were impressive. The company was able to pick more orders quickly, creating more availability for customers. The system’s speed allows orders to be picked up or delivered within the hour. One LFC can fulfill orders for many stores, which means its benefits can be felt by customers in stores nearby.
The company will build LFCs with various technology partners, including Alert Innovation, Dematic and Fabric. It will test different orientations and add-on innovations to understand what works best in different environments. In some stores, it plans to add automated pickup points.
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