Walmart Shareholders

22 • Walmart Shareholders • 6.2.2019 Project Gigaton, which Walmart started in April 2017 with the goal of eliminating a gigaton of greenhouse gas emissions from the supply chain by 2030. Removing 1 gigaton of emissions is equal to taking more than 211 million passenger vehicles off U.S. roads and highways for a year, according to the EPA's greenhouse gas equiva - lency calculator. Walmart Canada said at the meeting that it's joining Project Gigaton, making it Walmart's third international market, along with China and the U.K., to work with suppliers toward reducing emissions. To date, the more than 1,000 suppli- ers taking part in Project Gigaton report having avoided more than about 102.5 million tons of emissions. The company partners with nongovernmen- tal organizations Conservation International, the Environmental Defense Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund in Project Gigaton. Together they've developed an accounting methodology to enable suppliers to calculate potential emissions savings. Walmart said it will publish these calculators to encourage more suppliers to join the project. Kathleen McLaughlin, Walmart's chief sus - tainability officer, said the retailer is encouraged by its suppliers participation in Project Gigaton. "To achieve our ambitious climate goals, we aim to expand and deepen that engagement," she said in the news release. "The progress to date shows how companies can contribute to climate action through practical actions all along the product supply chain." Also during the meeting, Walmart gave up - dates on its progress toward goals in responsible sourcing and renewable energy use. The retailer said it continues to work with nonprofit organizations, industry groups, gov- ernments and suppliers to improve the lives of workers in the global apparel supply chain, es- pecially women. It also shared new sustainability goals for apparel and soft home textiles sold in Walmart's U.S. stores. These include using 50 percent more recycled polyester fiber and reducing the dis - charge of certain chemicals used in textile man- ufacturing. On its goal to power 50 percent of its opera- tions with renewable energy by the end of 2025, Walmart said it has completed contracts over the past year for 136 new solar and wind proj- ects. These will supply an estimated 2.14 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy annually, the company said. 479-527-9200 100 E. JOYCE BLVD., STE. 111 • FAYETTEVILLE ONLY (ACROSS FROM RAZORBACK CINEMA ) WWW.MOJITOSFAYETTEVILLE.COM • FACEBOOK.COM/MOJITOSFAYETTEVILLE WELCOME WALMART SHAREHOLDERS FREE SMALL CHEESE DIP! WITH THIS COUPON No waste n Continued from Page 20 NORTHWEST ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF REPORT Walmart Inc. stopped offering its Scan & Go service in U.S. stores last year, ending a test de- signed to make shopping easier for customers by giving them the chance to bypass the checkout line. The mobile express technology, which en- abled shoppers to use a hand-held device or mo- bile phone app to scan items as they shopped, is no longer available a few months after Walmart expanded the test to include about 120 locations. "We're testing things all across the country at different stores, and it's about what works best for the customer," Walmart spokesman Ra- gan Dickens said. "We want the whole checkout process to be that seamless process. So if there's points in the process that are not quite there yet on the seamless front, we take those learnings and we're plugging them into other areas of the store." The company tested Scan & Go at three lo- cations in Arkansas: a Walmart Supercenter and a Neighborhood Market in Rogers, and a super- center in Malvern. Signs inside the supercenter in Rogers on Monday thanked shoppers for their Scan & Go participation and indicated the company would learn from the test. It's the second time Walmart tried a Scan & Go system with U.S. customers. The company first began testing an early version of the service in 2013 but wrapped up without a larger adoption across the chain. The latest version was introduced to a few stores in 2017. Annibal Sodero, an assistant professor at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the Uni - versity of Arkansas, Fayetteville, said he's not surprised Walmart pulled the plug on the latest test. Sodero believed the technology deployed by Walmart required customers to "do a lot of work," which included weighing fresh fruits and vegetables that aren't available in easy-to-scan packages. "They said it was to improve the customer experience," Sodero said. "But you want to in- crease the customer experience by dumping more work on customers? So it was a little bit conflicting." The Scan & Go app was available on Android and iOS devices and could store credit and debit card information. When customers using the app finished shopping, they were able to click a but- ton to pay for the products scanned and show the digital receipt to an employee at the exit. Some Wal-Mart stores offered hand-held devices at kiosks as well. After shopping, cus- tomers would proceed to a bank of unmanned registers and pay for the products in their basket. "I'm somewhat surprised that Scan & Go didn't take hold," said Carol Spieckerman, a retail consultant and president of Spieckerman Retail. "Given the relatively small number of stores involved, lack of awareness may have played a role." A similar technology has worked at Sam's Club, which introduced its version of Scan & Go in 2015 and rolled it out to the entire warehouse chain. But Sam's Club, which will continue offering Scan & Go, carries far fewer items than Walmart stores and all of its prod- ucts are packaged. Neil Stern, senior partner at retail con- sultant firm McMillan-Doolittle, said the dif- ferences made Scan & Go easier to catch on at Sam's Club. While Walmart shoppers have grown accustomed to the concept of self-check- outs, Scan & Go proved "less than completely intuitive for the customer." Still, Stern thought Walmart ended the test more quickly than expected after announcing plans in January to introduce the technology to additional stores. "I think it's OK that they're moving on," Stern said. "But they better have another solu - tion on board." Walmart will continue to maintain its bank of self-checkout registers, which are located under signs that say 'Scan & Go' in stores, according to Dickens. The retailer has tested other checkout op - tions, including a new service in about 350 lawn and garden centers called "check out with me." The initiative enables customers shopping in the lawn and garden section to check out with an employee equipped with a hand-held device. Analysts said the service appears to be one replacement for Scan & Go as Walmart contin - ues to test ways to make shopping easier to com- pete against Amazon.com and Kroger Co. Amazon introduced Amazon Go, a small-for- mat store that enables customers to walk in, grab what they want and leave as items are automati- cally charged to their accounts. The online giant opened its first cashier-free store in Seattle and is planning additional stores for San Francisco and Chicago, according to the Seattle Times. Dickens said Walmart is looking across the board at the whole checkout process as it eval - uates convenience-based options. The company continues to rapidly expand its online grocery pickup service and is introducing hundreds of in-store pickup towers. The retailer also has im - plemented express lanes in the pharmacy and fi- nancial service areas designed to provide faster service. "I think [Amazon Go] led so many people to say, 'We've got to improve what we call friction - less retail,'" Stern said. U.S. Walmart stores drop Scan & Go

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