Innovation Pays Off for Nation’s Biggest Retailer

Walmart posted strong sales in Q3, suggesting that its determination to compete with Amazon by investing in cutting-edge, tech-driven approaches to retail is paying dividends.

Walmart reported a 43% jump in e-commerce sales last quarter and a brick-and-mortar bump of 3.4% for stores open more than a year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Here are some of the latest tech trends on which Walmart is leading the way:

• AR/visual search. As Street Fight reported, Walmart is offering an AR app that allows consumers to find out more about products in-store. Consumers just point their smartphones at physical products, and the app feeds back information about price, color, and other attributes.
• Tying together online and offline. One example here is returns. Customers who purchase things online that they want to return can simply hop over to the nearest Walmart location. 
• For members (think Amazon Prime), Walmart is offering Jetblack, a service that recommends products to consumers and allows them to order via text message. It’s being led by a co-founder of Rent the Runway, another sign that Walmart’s investing in the talent required to be a tech-forward retailer.

Joe Zappa is Street Fight’s managing editor.