Wal-Mart Stores Inc chief executive officer Doug McMillon touted the company’s investments in people and technology, but also said it might have reached an employment peak and urged employees not to be afraid of automation.
Speaking on Friday at the annual shareholders’ meeting, McMillon highlighted ideas Walmart has introduced or tested in the past year, like grocery pickup and technology that tracks food through the global supply chain.
The company has also put money into its online operations, buying several smaller retail sites as it seeks to compete better with Amazon.com Inc.
Photo: The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP
McMillon and other executives also noted the company’s investments in higher wages and training for its employees.
“We will compete with technology, but win with people,” McMillon told a cheering audience.
He added that workers should not fear increasing automation in the industry.
“No doubt our work will be different in the future — robots, drones and algorithms will do some work that we used to have to do,” he said. “Some people are afraid of what these changes will bring. I don’t think we should be. Instead, I think we should recognize that we’ll be able to learn, grow and change together.”
A report conducted by the Cornerstone Capital Group and commissioned by the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute said that between 6 million and 7.5 million US retail jobs could be wiped out in the coming years because of technology.
In a briefing with reporters, McMillon suggested that the company might have reached an employment peak at 1.6 million workers.
“We may end up over time with fewer people, paying them more and have them use more technology,” he said.
Walmart’s online sales surged as it tinkered with its shipping offers and other services and drew more shoppers to its stores in its fiscal first quarter.
The world’s largest retailer has posted sales gains at established stores for the 11th straight quarter, and customer traffic has risen for the 10th quarter in a row.
McMillon cited the company’s efforts to offer more shopping options, including automated pickup stations in some store parking lots, in-store pickup for online orders and “Jet Fresh” delivery, which provides grocery delivery in one to two days and is available to about half of US households.
With faster shipping a key area of competition, Walmart had on Thursday announced a delivery service using its own store employees, who are to deliver packages while driving home from their work shifts.
Walmart has invested US$2.7 billion in higher wages and training for workers to lower turnover and make the shopping experience more appealing.
The company has opened 155 training academies and plans to have 200 by the end of this year.
About 100,000 associates have been trained.
Walmart’s financial performance has stood out amid a largely gloomy environment for retailers. Its shares have risen 13 percent over the past year and are hovering at about US$80.
Still, amid the company chants and upbeat presentations, there were some signs of dissatisfaction.
Two employees, speaking on shareholder proposals, called for more hours for part-time workers and more parental leave.
The comments, both from members of the OUR Walmart worker group, prompted loud cheers from the employees.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is