Predictive analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to impact our businesses and personal lives, mostly in a positive way. This interesting news came to us from Machine Learning Times in their article, “Walmart’s AI is Getting Smarter About Grocery Delivery.”
The pandemic brought about a new demand – online grocery ordering, pickup and delivery. I had already jumped onboard this boat years before but even I felt the impact of this surge in lack of product availability, pick-up times and longer waits.
Grocery delivery apps experienced a record number of downloads in March 2020, and by the following month, Walmart Grocery (which is now integrated into the Walmart app) surpassed Amazon as the No. 1 shopping app on both Google Play and the App Store.
Now that pandemic restrictions have significantly eased, consumers are still using ordering groceries for delivery or pickup more frequently than they were pre-pandemic. Was it the discovered convenience? Is it still a measure to take for personal health safety?
For Walmart shoppers, it might be the technology. Over 200 million people shop at Walmart in-store and online each week for more than 150,000 different grocery products. The AI uses that data to predict consumer behavior, preferences and needs.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
