Walmart Offering Pickup Towers in More Stores

Walmart has increased the number of stores with self-service “Pickup Towers” from which customers can get items ordered online, according to a published report.

First introduced last year at a Walmart store in the mega-retailer’s hometown of Bentonville, Ark., the huge automated kiosks holding hundreds of packages are now in more than a dozen stores in such locations as Gilbert, Ariz.; Glenpool, Okla.; Enterprise and Auburn, Ala.; Gwinnett County, Ga.; and Midlothian, Va., Business Insider reported. The towers, which can adjust the size of the compartments in which the packages are stored before pickup, are usually placed by store entrances.

To get an order, a customer scans a bar code on a purchase receipt, a door on the machine opens, and the item or items roll out on a conveyer belt.

The towers are just one of the innovations Walmart is trying with consumers; others include having associates deliver packages to customers’ homes, digital endless-aisle shopping in stores and pickup stations in parking lots.