Media Real Talk | Walmart’s Omega 8 Program Recruits Clobotics to Monitor Cooler Stocking Issues in Stores

Walmart offers startup tech firms in the Omega 8 program the opportunity to sell their products to Walmart’s more than 400 stores.

Recently, journalist Wayne Ma from The Information published an article on Walmart’s innovation strategy — ***Walmart Taps China’s Startups for Innovation*. In this article, Wayne Ma talks about how Walmart’s Omega 8 **program is helping the retail giant find innovative ways to solve its pain points with cutting-edge technologies offered by brilliant startups.

What is Omega 8?

According to Wayne Ma, Omega 8 is not a corporate venture program like Walmart’s U.S. incubator Store №8. Omega 8 doesn’t invest in startups, instead, it teaches startups about Walmart’s retail operations and its biggest challenges, and reward them with lucrative business deals if they are able to provide solutions for Walmart’s pain points. Typically, these startups modify their existing technologies to better serving Walmart instead of inventing something completely new.

What does it mean?

This is a win-win for both startups in Omega 8 and Walmart. This reduces the cost of experimentation of new technologies for Walmart, and it give a great playing ground for technology companies which are searching for meaning for meaningful enterprise application for their technologies.

How is Clobotics involved?

Clobotics was recruited to join the program after Walmart executives learned of their machine-vision technology used by Coca Cola to monitor whether coolers in Chinese stores were properly stocked.

Clobotics is now testing a device attached to some Walmart refrigerators in China that alerts employees when items need to be restocked or rearranged. Customers do the work for the company when they open and close the refrigerator doors, which triggers a camera that helps Walmart track how often products are taken out, when shelf arrangements change and other insightful metrics.

See full article here: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/walmart-taps-chinas-startups-for-innovation