WALMART

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart is bringing 1,500 jobs to Florida as it continues to expand its e-commerce fulfillment network.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart is making it easier for parents to stay on their game during this year's back-to-school shopping season.

According to Deloitte, this year's season is expected to be a strong one and start early. Walmart is rolling out new services to help shoppers easily find what they are looking for — in stores and online.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart’s technology incubator — called Store No. 8 — is on the hunt for cutting edge virtual reality (VR) solutions.

In an effort to uncover new VR applications — and innovative ways to apply the technology to commerce — Walmart’s Store No. 8 is partnering with Thrive Global and Accenture to create a nationwide competition for developers. Called Innov8: V-commerce, the contest invites start-up companies to submit ideas that have the potential to change the way people shop and live, according to Walmart.

Having a baby changes everything — including shopping behavior, according to new insights from pregnancy and parenting resource BabyCenter, a Johnson & Johnson company. The company’s “2017 Skincare and Bathtime Study,” shared exclusively with Drug Store News, points to lasting changes that new parents undergo in terms of what they look for from their personal care products once they have children, as well as the top factors influencing their buying decisions.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart continues to explore new ways to make it easier for customers to pick up goods purchased online.

The discounter is expanding its deployment of a giant self-service kiosk, which it calls a Pickup Tower, that spits out online orders to users of Walmart's buy-online-pickup-in-store service. Walmart debuted the technology last fall, in a store in Bentonville, Ark., close its headquarters.

There is a potential white space opportunity for retail clinics in advancing point-of-care diagnostic offerings on site. In 2015, combined sales of POC tests, clinical chemistry and immunoassay laboratory tests and vaccines to retail clinics reached $240 million, with vaccines accounting for a greater share than POC tests or laboratory tests. This reflects total annual growth of more than 26% per year since 2010, when retail clinics accounted for about $75 million in purchases of these products.

MADISON, N.J., and BENTONVILLE, Ark. — By the end of the year, roughly 15 Walmart locations will feature co-branded Quest Diagnostics sites, the companies announced Monday. The sites are set to launch at select stores in Florida and Texas, initially offering lab testing services with the expectation that they will expand to include other basic healthcare services.