Dive Brief:
- Walmart is rolling out AI-powered tools to its 1.5 million U.S. associates with the goal of offering more support for workers to help customers in real time, the retailer announced Tuesday. The new tools will be integrated into the Walmart associate app.
- The tools include a real-time translation feature that can facilitate multilingual conversations between associates and customers in 44 languages. The feature supports both text-to-text and speech-to-speech formats and includes Walmart-specific knowledge, such as recognizing the term “Great Value” as the retailer’s private brand.
- The retailer also plans to upgrade its existing conversational AI for associates in the coming months. The tool will offer step-by-step instructions for advanced support queries like, “How can I process a return without a receipt?”
Dive Insight:
Walmart is among a growing number of retailers putting generative AI apps directly in associates’ hands to streamline their workdays and enhance customer service.
Walmart associates already have experience with its conversational AI tool. More than 900,000 workers use the feature every week, totaling over 3 million queries daily, according to the company.
The retailer is also introducing AI-driven task management, which uses the technology to prioritize and recommend tasks for associates. Early results have led to a reduction in the time store managers spend planning shifts for overnight stocking, and the retailer is piloting the tool for shifts other than stocking as well.
Walmart has been experimenting with generative AI for two years with the goal of encouraging associates to use the technology every day. The retailer’s earlier associate-facing AI implementation, which helped with inventory and let workers spend more time with customers, helped drive higher NPS during the 2023 holiday season.
Earlier this month, Walmart also introduced AI for customers through Sparky, an automated assistant designed to help customers by summarizing reviews and planning purchases.
While Walmart is one of the retailers at the forefront of generative AI integration for employees, the company isn’t alone.
The Home Depot is combining training and AI tools to improve associate product and project knowledge, which executives see as a key CX differentiator. Last year, Target rolled out its own AI assistant for associates, Store Companion, which answer process and procedure-related questions.
Other examples include Verizon, which last year said that its generative AI assistant helped in-store associates find answers to 95% of customer inquiries, and Office Depot, whose associates use the ODP Personal Assistant to answer common questions.
