Walmart’s New High Tech Small Supermarket

Walmart has opened its first small-sized high-tech supermarket - in Shenzhen, China, which just may be a format that is the Aldi and Amazon Go challenger.

Walmart's store will stock more than 8,000 items ranging from stir-fried clams to fresh fruit, 90 percent of which will also be available online.  

Items shopped can be delivered to customers within a 2 kilometer radius from JD.com as quickly as 29 minutes, said Walmart in a statement. 

Walmart also said that customers at the new supermarket will be able to use a mini program on WeChat as they shop to bypass traditional checkout counters by paying via their mobile device.  

As the war between Amazon and Walmart heats up and both companies make heavy investments in technology and experiment with new store formats, it is critical for traditional grocers to up their game as well. Today Amazon leads Walmart in online food sales by double, however its important to note that those who shop Walmart online are doing a full grocery shop including fresh, frozen and refrigerated, while Amazon shoppers do not. Yet.