CANADIAN PRESS
Walmart Canada say it is closing six stores including three in Ontario and spending $500 million to upgrade more than half its remaining locations and improve its online business.
Construction has already started on the operation, which will see automated online grocery picking and dispensing and automated kiosks that will serve as vending machines for online grocery orders, the company said.
Meanwhile, Walmart Canada said the record $500-million investment includes the launch of the retailer’s first automated market fulfilment centre inside the Scarborough West Walmart Supercentre.
Horacio Barbeito, president and CEO of Walmart Canada, said the company wants to modernize all aspects of its business with a focus on stores and serving customers “in more omnichannel ways.”
The retailer said it’s also investing in more prosaic store upgrades, including repairs, paint, lighting, signage and improvements to staff lounges, revamping select stores, improving pickup spaces for online orders and converting stores in Calgary and Kitchener to supercentres.
The upgrades this year are part of the retailer’s planned $3.5-billion investment to improve online and in-store shopping over the next five years.
“When a customer chooses to shop at our stores we want to do everything we can to ensure they are met with the best and most modern experience possible,” Sam Wankowski, Walmart Canada’s chief operations officer said in a statement.
“We are making a lot of improvements, including digitizing the experience to be more contemporary and creating a more efficient store to serve our customers regardless of how they choose to shop with us.”