walmart aims to make it as easy as possible for customers to find what they want.
The retailer is leveraging three new tools associated with digital shelf labels to help both customers and associates find products. This is the latest part of the company’s efforts to modernize its technology and incorporate artificial intelligence into its business.
“We’re human-led and we’re leveraging the power of technology,” said Greg Cathy, Walmart’s senior vice president of digital transformation. “But the way we see it, AI can help employees do their jobs and free up their time to do what they want to do most: spend more time with customers and colleagues.”
A new feature for shoppers called Shop to Light allows customers to find a specific product in the Walmart app, navigate to the correct aisle in the store, and flash the product’s digital shelf label to find the product. The retailer is currently rolling this out broadly following a pilot program.
This tool is also combined with Pick to Light and Stock to Light, which use the same functionality to help store associates select items for digital orders and stock items. All three features will be rolled out to all company stores by the holiday season, Kathy said.
“This is a use case that our customers and employees have been asking us for,” Cathy said. “It gives them time back, and I think if you look at a lot of what we’re trying to do, it’s all centered around convenience and being able to help our employees and customers free up that time and invest it where they want.”
The development comes as convenience and speed have become key elements of Walmart’s efforts to increase sales, especially in the areas of delivery and pickup. Although Walmart’s business has been steadily growing and e-commerce sales continue to rise, investor concerns about the company’s comparable sales and earnings outlook weighed on its stock after its latest earnings report in August.
Walmart stores carry approximately 120,000 products. Kathy said it was a priority for the company to offer such a wide range of products while making it easy for customers to find the exact item.
Although the company has not disclosed any financial details of the program, Kathy said the new features in the pilot stores will allow employees and customers to spend more time shopping and stocking. The Shop to Light feature has already recorded 5 million flashes from customers since it began rolling out in limited locations this summer.
He said these new features will be especially important as retailers head into the busy holiday season, and said the company considers these new features to be a “huge win” for saving time.
Walmart has started using digital shelf labels instead of paper labels so that automatic and system-wide price changes can be rolled out at once. Walmart says it currently has more than 4,300 stores with digital shelf labels and plans to roll them out chain-wide by the end of the year.
He added that prices on labels are changed at night when customers are not in the store, and that the system has “robust governance” and human oversight to ensure there are no errors. Approximately 90% of the sections in the store now have digital shelf labels.
“We don’t think of it as technology for technology’s sake,” Kathy said. “So we’re constantly monitoring humans and focusing on their judgment and decision-making ability.”
Advancing broader technology
Corporate logo on the exterior of a Walmart retail store seen on September 8, 2026 in Saratoga Springs, Utah, USA.
Charles McClintock Wilson | Null Photo | Getty Images
Walmart has been investing in technology to modernize its business, both on the consumer-facing side and internal operations.
We deployed AI agents to help customers shop, automated our supply chain, invested in radio frequency identification tags, and adopted AI to prepare for agent commerce. It also spent billions of dollars modernizing its store locations.
During Walmart’s latest earnings call, CEO John Furner said the company is reaping significant benefits from its technology strategy, which includes investments in AI.
“We believe AI will improve nearly every part of our business by making shopping better and making employees’ jobs easier,” he said.
Still, digital shelf labels and the company’s AI push have sparked backlash. They have expressed concerns about dynamic pricing and that digital labels could lead to price gouging and privacy issues with collecting shopping data from customers.
But Furner said in an open letter last week that the company will continue to “price products, not people,” adding that it will no longer use customer information to set prices.
“Prices do not change based on your income, shopping history, urgency, or what you think you can afford,” Farner wrote.
Kathy, who has been in the role for nearly a year, said her biggest priority in taking over the role is to focus on accelerating the speed of the technology Walmart uses while maintaining human oversight.
Several state legislatures, including New Jersey, have passed measures restricting digital shelf labels due to price issues. Walmart said it is rolling out the feature to all of its New Jersey stores.
In a statement, Walmart called the policy “an overreaction, as digital shelf labels are not a tool for price monitoring, but simply a modern way of displaying prices.”
Walmart is also investing in drone delivery, which has come under similar scrutiny due to privacy concerns, to get goods to customers in as little as 30 minutes. This shipping option is available in some states, including Texas and Florida.
Ultimately, Kathy said the new digital shelf label features are all part of the company’s larger goal of giving store associates more time to meet customers’ individual needs.
And while investors are debating whether brick-and-mortar stores or e-commerce are more important to the company’s business, Cathy said the new features show that both go hand in hand.
“It’s no longer one or the other; it’s both,” he said. “We don’t think of this as store or e-commerce fulfillment. In fact, they’re the same thing.”
