Every retailer is in search of the next great innovation to their business models, but they always say that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to come up with something worthwhile. Well, Walmart is testing out whether it can reinvent a critical part of the shopping experience that involves four wheels instead.
Reuters is reporting that Walmart has rolled out a new fleet of shopping carts meant to make produce department employees’ job more streamlined than before. Dubbed “quality carts,” the carriages come with built-in scales for measuring produce and containers for spoiled or expired items. Ostensibly, this will help Walmart produce employees complete more of their required tasks out on the selling floor, which also makes them available to assist consumers if need be. Produce taken off of shelves and stored in said quality carts can then be marked down or donated.
As of Monday (July 11), Walmart had issued just one quality cart each to about 500 stores, though it plans to have at least one in all of its 5,000 stores by the end of Q3 2016, Vice President for Central Operations Shana DeSmit told Reuters. That’s just one aspect of a general pivot Walmart is making around its produce business, with in-store redesigns opening up those sections of its stores and the imminent hiring of hundreds of “fresh food managers” expected to imbue its fresh grocery business with some new life.
