Walmart’s Next Play: Trends Suppliers Must Ride
- Jon Allen
- Oct 23
- 4 min read
Walmart isn’t just remodeling stores—it’s rebuilding the operating system of U.S. retail. From a “store of the future” blueprint in Texas to AI-powered shopping and exit tech, the world’s largest retailer is wiring digital into every aisle, endcap, and app screen. If you sell to Walmart (or want to), here’s what’s changing—and how to line up your game plan now.
What Walmart is building (and why it matters)
A flagship “store of the future.”Walmart’s newest Supercenter in Cypress, Texas, is the first ground-up U.S. “Store of the Future,” featuring digital-first wayfinding, category storytelling, and QR codes that bridge the shelf to the endless aisle. Think faster trips and richer product discovery—not just prettier signage. Four more new Supercenters and two conversions are slated in 2025, alongside 150 builds/conversions over five years.
2,300 stores get Digital Shelf Labels (DSLs). Paper tags are out; electronic labels are in by 2026. That means price updates in minutes, cleaner execution for promos, and better alignment between online and in-store pricing. Translation for suppliers: pricing precision and promo discipline just got non-negotiable.
AI everywhere—from the backroom to the basket. Walmart rolled out AI tools to 1.5M associates to automate routine work and speed decisions; Sam’s Club’s AI exit verification is already cutting member wait times by 23%. And as of today, Walmart announced an OpenAI partnership to enable ChatGPT shopping with “Instant Checkout.” Expect more conversational, context-aware shopping flows.
Faster last mile (and the next mile). Walmart has topped 150,000 drone deliveries and is expanding to major metros (Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, Tampa). Speed and convenience are now assortment levers—especially for small, urgent baskets.
Retail media becomes a growth engine. Global ad revenue up 50% YoY in early FY26; Walmart Connect + Sam’s Club MAP are turning first-party data into measurable performance. For brands, retail media is no longer optional “support”—it’s the bridge between discovery and conversion across store and app.
Marketplace scale with fulfillment to match. Walmart Marketplace is adding sellers at a record clip, and WFS (Walmart Fulfillment Services) items see about a 50% GMV lift on average when tagged “Walmart Fulfilled” and “2-Day Shipping.” That badge increasingly decides the digital shelf.
The scorecard says the flywheel is working. In Q2 FY26, Walmart’s global eCommerce grew 25%, and Walmart U.S. comps rose 4.6%—with groceries and health & wellness leading. The omnichannel machine is pulling shoppers across channels.
So what—how do suppliers align?
1) Design for a digital-physical shelf
Make your packaging scannable and shoppable. Those in-store QR moments need short videos, comparison charts, size guides, and attach-item bundles ready to load. If your PDP can’t close the sale from a QR scan, you’ll lose the handoff. (Cypress proves Walmart is pushing QR discovery at scale.)
Tighten price and promo governance. DSLs reduce latency; sloppy MAP or promo rules will get exposed fast. Align internal calendars to Walmart’s pricing cadence.
2) Treat retail media as an operating expense, not a campaign
Sequence your spending to the trip. Fund upper-funnel Connect formats during new set weeks and seasonal transitions; shift to Sponsored Search and on-site video when inventory is deep and 2-Day/WFS is live. Walmart’s ad flywheel is compounding; ride it.
3) Win speed: WFS + availability beats “brand alone”
Flip key SKUs to WFS. The “Walmart Fulfilled/2-Day” tags correlate with a ~50% GMV lift. Use WFS where your margin structure tolerates the fee mix, and keep self-fulfillment for long-tail or heavy/oversize.
Assort for urgency. Drone/rapid coverage favors compact, timely items (OTC, baby, beauty minis, pet add-ons). Build small-basket heroes.
4) Bring planograms that match the new floor
Segment by mission, not just margin. Cypress leans into lifestyle zones—Baby Tech, Beauty, Pets, and a regional bakery. Show a modular set that fits those narratives (and travels to remodels).
Prove the attach rates. Pair your anchor with one Connect-supported attach and one QR-friendly add-on. Bring the data.
5) Make AI work for you
Feed the machine with perfect content. Walmart’s AI and search rank on quality signals: clean attributes, crisp imagery, and helpful bullets. Treat content like inventory: forecast it, QA it, refresh it. (As AI shopping rolls into ChatGPT, structured data will matter even more.)
A quick (fictional) aisle-level story
A mid-size pet brand watched its bestseller drift on Walmart.com. The fix wasn’t a coupon. They switched to WFS for 2-Day coverage, reduced image background noise, added a 20-second how-to clip for the in-store QR flow, and adjusted retail media to “right-before-restock” windows. Result: digital sales +42% in eight weeks and an in-store endcap test. It’s fictional—but it mirrors the playbook we see working.
What’s different about Walmart’s “future store” vs. a remodel?
Connected discovery: QR-to-PDP journeys are baked into displays, not bolted on. Bring short-form content and comparison tools.
Execution velocity: DSLs compress price change cycles and promo updates. Your internal ops must keep pace.
Service adjacency: From Auto Care pilots to vision/pharmacy upgrades, services are being digitized within the trip—more reasons to visit, more opportunities for cross-selling.
90-Day alignment checklist (steal this)
Map your top 15 SKUs to WFS eligibility and margin; move the five most elastic to WFS first.
Overhaul PDPs (video, rich bullets, comparison charts) for SKUs featured in remodels and Cypress-style storytelling bays.
Refactor promo calendars around DSL speed; standardize price files and guardrails.
Reallocate retail media: 60% to conversion (search/on-site), 40% to mid/upper funnel during resets or seasonal moments.
Pilot an “urgent basket” pack sized for drone/rapid delivery metros (OTC/baby/pet/beauty). Measure reorder interval.
Instrument content for AI shopping (titles, attributes, troubleshooting FAQs). Assume conversational queries will rise as ChatGPT shopping rolls out.
Walmart trends to watch for next
The AI shopping rollout pace and categories were impacted first. (Will meal-planning, baby, and beauty lead?)
Remodel velocity vs. new builds, and which departments get the most “digital storytelling” space.
Retail media + streaming (Vizio tie-ins) for closed-loop measurement—bigger budgets will go where sales attribution is cleanest.
If you’re already on the shelf, the opportunity is to move with Walmart’s operating tempo—faster pricing execution, richer content, and fulfillment that actually matches the promise on the page. If you’re aiming to get on the shelf, bring modular sets and airtight content that make a merchant’s job easier on day one.
