Retail concepts and the role of technology
- Better shopping, from discovery to the exit
- Sachin Acharya
- Principal Product Manager, Walmart Global Tech
- Retail technology | Merchandising analytics | Pricing | Scan & Go and exit optimization
- ATLAS SkillTech University | 15 Sep 2026 | Online
- Guest session: Evolution of Fashion with the Blend of Technology
About me
[Speaker fills this in]
From a retail promise to a connected experience
The promise comes before the technology
- Walmart's north star: "Save people money so they can live better"
- Customer-first at Walmart; member-first at Sam's Club
- Value: make the shopping budget go further
- Trust: deliver what was promised
- Convenience: respect the shopper's time
- Use data to serve people and improve decisions
From "guess and hope" to "know and serve"
- Connected shopping: discover online, visit a store, choose pickup or delivery
- US Census Bureau, Q2 2026: e-commerce was 17.1% of US retail sales, seasonally adjusted
- Bain with Flipkart, 2025 report: ultra-low-price platforms represented more than 12% of India's online retail merchandise value in 2024
- Examples: Walmart pickup connects an online order to a store; Sam's Club Scan & Go brings phone payment into the club
- Omnichannel means stores, apps, websites, pickup, and delivery working as one experience
- The shopper thinks about getting the purchase done
RFID: help the system see the physical stock
- RFID means radio-frequency identification: a tag and reader identify items using radio waves
- Barcode: point at each label and scan it
- RFID: read multiple tagged items without aiming at each label
- Follow tagged merchandise through receiving, stock counts, and store operations
- Spot missing stock and help teams find products
- Support more dependable online availability and pickup promises
Scan & Go: checkout at the shopper's pace
- Scan items with your phone as you shop
- Review your cart and pay in the Sam's Club app
- Have your digital receipt verified at exit, then leave
- Skip the traditional checkout lane
- Historical adoption: 1 in 3 members used it regularly, reported by Grocery Dive in 2024, citing Sam's Club
- Design for clear feedback and easy access to help
A smoother exit, with purchase verification
- Purchase complete → approach exit → verify cart against transaction → leave
- Computer vision means software interpreting camera images
- Cameras help identify cart items; software compares them with the purchase record
- Reduce routine manual receipt checks and keep associates available to help
- Support shrink prevention by flagging possible unpaid or mismatched items
- Shrink means stock lost through theft, errors, damage, or other causes
AI helps people turn information into action
- Artificial intelligence: software that learns patterns to predict, recognize, or generate
- Predict demand: help teams decide what to stock and replenish
- Support pricing: explore options; people set goals and guardrails
- Assist shoppers: help translate a need into relevant products
- Assist employees: summarize feedback and draft routine work
- Internal tools or approved third-party tools: protect data, check outputs, keep human judgment
One purchase, connected from promise to learning
Illustrative journey: a member needs towels for a family visit
- Philosophy: offer useful quality, a fair price, and an easy trip
- RFID: tagged stock helps support a dependable availability promise
- Scan & Go: find the towels in club, scan, review, and pay
- Exit: verify the cart against the transaction and help if needed
- AI: use demand and feedback patterns to inform the next stocking and design decisions
Better information → better decisions → a better next visit
Thank you. What would you improve?
- Start with the shopper's need
- Connect the experience across every step
- Use technology to help people deliver the promise
- Q&A: Which moment in retail would you redesign, and why?