Blue Labs is Walmart Canada’s new incubator and innovation team tasked with creating the retail experience of tomorrow. At Grocery Business, we reached out to the team at Walmart Canada about Blue Labs for their vision of the future.
Walmart Canada officially launched Blue Labs during its event on June 21, 2022, at Toronto’s Collision Conference. Starting in the “Walmart Innovation Unboxed” pavilion, Lee Jeyes, Head of Innovation at Walmart Canada, kicked off the full three days of Collision where attendees got to learn more about and see themselves within the innovation challenges Walmart Canada and Blue Labs launched at the conference.
Whether it was about sustainability in retail or how Walmart Canada can continue delivering a better customer experience, the “big box” was a central point of Collision for attendees to engage with the largest retailer in the world as it looks to transform how, why, where people shop.
“Technology has changed the retail landscape forever. Whether through e-commerce, automation or customer customization, the future of retail will rely heavily on digital innovation and we want to be at the forefront,” said Nicolai Salcedo, chief technology and data officer, Walmart Canada. “We envision a shopping experience that is people-led and tech empowered and we’re creating teams that are bringing the best solutions for our customers.”
Blue Labs is launching five global innovation challenges at Collision and encouraging attendees to tackle large-scale retail issues that include regeneration and how technology can help customers save money and live better. “It’s an extremely exciting time to be in retail,” said Lee Jeyes, Head of Innovation, Blue Labs. “We are making investments in tools, technology, and our people to enable them to better serve our customers every day. We are excited to partner with the tech ecosystem on helping us shape the future of retail”
Suresh Kumar, Walmart Inc.’s executive vice president, chief technology officer, and chief development officer also spoke at the conference. He shared the company’s plans to build roadmaps with sustainability in mind, greening IT operations and creating pathways to careers of the future, as well as hiring thousands of tech roles in Toronto and Atlanta.
Blue Labs was established in 2021.
