Walmart is trying another tack to eliminate lines at cash registers by testing Check Out With Me, an approach enabling store employees to accept payments in store aisles.
In the lawn and garden departments at more than 350 stores across the U.S., Walmart associates may complete customers’ purchases on the spot using a mobile device that scans items, accepts card payments and prints receipts, Walmart said in a blog post. Customers enrolled in Walmart Pay may opt to receive an electronic receipt.
A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. location stands in Brasilia, Brazil, on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to close 269 stores, including its experimental small-format Express outlets, in a push to streamline the chain that will affect 16,000 jobs. The effort includes the closing of 60 money-losing stores in Brazil, a country where Wal-Mart has struggled. Photographer: Lula Marques/Bloomberg
Lula Marques/Bloomberg
The process aims to save customers time, Walmart said in the blog post.
The move underscores Walmart’s determination to streamline store operations with new technology.
Walmart has recently expanded the number of stores that support Scan & Go, a tool developed for its Sam's Club subsidiary enabling shoppers to scan their own items as they roam store aisles. Walmart shoppers in Arkansas, Texas and Florida can now scan items with Walmart’s mobile app or one of the store’s hand-held scanners and pay at a kiosk with a credit card or Walmart Pay, eliminating the need to unload and reload a shopping cart.
Last year Walmart began testing the use of robots in 50 stores to manage inventory by checking the number and price of items on store shelves.
In its latest financial stability report, the Federal Reserve found that asset valuations continue to be elevated and leverage levels remain high, especially among nonbanks like hedge funds and insurance firms.
Federal Reserve Board Gov. Stephen Miran said the growth of stablecoins and cryptocurrencies will likely impact monetary policy and could lead to lower interest rates.
The Spanish bank says it can connect small and medium-size U.S. businesses with local market experts on its newly launched digital platform Navigator Global.
The Pittsburgh-based bank said Friday that it will focus on building 300 branches in high-growth markets by 2030. It also minimized the prospects for another acquisition on the heels of its recent deal for Colorado-based FirstBank.
Consumers' and merchants' penchant for 0% loans are boosting the buy now/pay later lender in its first fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, as gross merchandise volume hit a record.
HoldCo Asset Management drops its pursuit of proxy battles with Columbia Banking System and First Interstate; Cape Cod's Mutual Bancorp prepares to acquire Bluestone Bank; Servbank HoldCo announces plans to acquire IF Bancorp; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
