South by Southwest isn't just about music, film and other media entertainment. The biggest retailer in the world will be at SXSW in Austin this year, selling itself as a tech company.
Since its inception in Arkansas in 1962, Walmart has arguably struggled to fit the bill as a"modern" retailer. Many consumers still think about the company's Southern roots, its everyday low prices and warehouse-like store formats, when they think of Walmart. Meanwhile, Walmart's biggest competitor, Amazon, is gobbling up U.S. e-commerce sales as it innovates with tech like its Alexa-enabled Echo devices, where consumers can shop just using their voice.
"For years now ... I've wanted people to understand we are building a tech organization," he said."I've got a machine learning team. We have some of the best apps in the world." "Everything is so real time," King explained."We can react to [out-of-stocks] instantly. Change an order on the fly and the warehouse can send the order ... where before it could take a week."
In order to be billed as a tech company they may have to lower their workers’ pay.
Well if Amazon can bill itself as a tech company I don't see why Walmart can't.
Walmart were early adopters of computing . It’s a reason for their success.
That's adorable.