Walmart Commerce Technologies Launches AI-Powered Logistics Product

Walmart wants to strengthen retail everywhere by offering its proven technology to other companies; Latest solution improves middle mile efficiency, allowing companies to stock their customers’ desired products more consistently

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – For years, Walmart has used AI to create a more efficient supply chain, reducing emissions while ensuring more of the items its customers want are available where, when and how they want them. The company is making that same award-winning, AI-powered logistics technology – Route Optimization – available to all businesses as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution through Walmart Commerce Technologies.

“We have invested a lot of time, resources and operational knowledge in building solutions like Route Optimization, but that can be a barrier for many companies,” said Anshu Bhardwaj, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Walmart Global Tech and Walmart Commerce Technologies . “By adopting our large-scale, AI-powered technology, companies can eliminate the need and expense of developing their own technology, and instead focus on what they do best: serving their customers.”

Route Optimization offers companies of all sizes the use of AI-driven software to optimize driving routes, pack trailers efficiently and minimize miles traveled. Using the same custom technology, Walmart avoided 94 million pounds of carbon by eliminating 30 million unnecessary miles driven and optimizing routes to avoid 110,000 inefficient paths. Walmart won the prestigious Franz Edelman Award in 2023 for building and deploying this technology at scale.

Now Walmart is offering Route Optimization to other businesses to improve their own performance and ensure their customers can find what they’re looking for by:

• Better planning for a truck’s multi-stop journey – AI-driven automated route mapping takes into account factors such as time, location and store delivery times.
• Pack trailers in the most efficient way – not only maximizes space, but also ensures temperature-controlled items stay fresh.
• Ensuring that stores receive deliveries on time, regardless of external variables, by taking advantage of weather and traffic patterns and being able to switch quickly when necessary.
• Strategically planning inventory collection (backhauls) on the return journey of deliveries to ensure trailers are never empty, ensuring efficiency and a greener footprint.
• Providing insight at a glance such as trailer usage, travel time and distance traveled without freight, so operations management teams can make faster, more informed decisions.

Walmart has been pioneering and scaling innovative omnichannel technologies for more than a decade. Route Optimization is Walmart’s second turnkey, white-label solution, joining Store Assist, a SaaS technology that provides local fulfillment including shipping, pickup and delivery.

About Walmart

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is a people-led, technology-powered omnichannel retailer that helps people save money and live better – anytime, anywhere – in stores, online and through their mobile devices. Every week, approximately 255 million customers and members visit more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries. With fiscal 2024 sales of $648 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.1 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment. Additional information about Walmart can be found at corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/walmart, on X (formerly known as Twitter) at twitter.com/walmartand on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/walmart.