Walmart Secret Weapon In Fighting Amazon Includes Edge Computing, Supercenter, And 5G

Walmart is planning to bet on its existing chain of supercenters in its fight against Amazon, claims the new report. Instead of trying to compete with its rival in e-commerce, which is Amazon’s domain, the American retail corporation will reportedly utilize its stores to offer customers with quick deliveries and easier access to goods along with customer experience, which they could not order online. Additionally, Walmart wants to transform its stores in edge computing centers, warehouses into processing and shipping centers for third-party products, among other future plans.

During a strategy meeting, Walmart executives recently shared the details of the company’s plans in fighting against Amazon, reports Bloomberg. According to sources who shared the information to Bloomberg, Walmart is planning to convert its stores into some kind of web of hubs that will provide everything. This includes rapid grocery and product deliveries to edge computing for the increasingly growing linked systems.

A Walmart supercenter could serve as a massive hub for local regions providing customers with social experience aside from the goods. The best example perhaps is the potential of Walmart offering eyeglass centers and hair salons on its superstores, reports Slashgear. By introducing edge computing to supercenters, Walmart could rent out data processing power to local customers compared to traditional cloud service providers.

The American retail corporation is also reportedly looking into expanding the warehouse of its stores, including its shipping capacities. This would be sold to third-party sellers providing their products through the retail corporation’s official website. Moreover, Walmart is considering certain services as a means to encourage and attract new customers, reports The Wall Street Journal.

This could include providing fast product delivery from local stores, wider grocery pickup and delivery, in-store health clinics, and several other services, says Slashgear. The majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart Store, and the company would like to provide these customers with unique that Amazon could not offer, the report adds. Furthermore, Walmart is currently talking with major telecom companies about its plan of potentially enabling them to install 5G antennas on the roofs of Walmart stores.

This initiative would allow customers to order goods on the company’s website or mobile app, then pick them up in the nearest parking lot of Walmart.