Walmart opens its first Auto Care Center of the Future in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with plans to expand to 10 locations. Customers can schedule services through the Walmart app, drop their keys in a locker, and shop while receiving real-time updates on their vehicle. With 2,582 auto care centers nationwide, Walmart is transforming a traditionally frustrating experience into a seamless, convenient service. Chris and Anne discuss how this move takes costs out of operations while potentially attracting higher-income customers to Walmart stores.

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#WalmartAutoCare #AutoService #RetailInnovation #WalmartPlus #CustomerConvenience #DigitalRetail #AutomotiveServices

Forget stores of the future.

This week, Walmart has opened its Auto Care center of the Future.

And according to Chain Storage, Walmart has opened the first of 10 planned auto care Centers of the Future locations at a Supercenter store in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Here's how the new Auto center of the Future works because I know all of you out there are incredibly curious.

Customers sign into the Walmart app, navigate to services, click Auto Services and schedule their service.

Three service drops in one sentence.

At the appointment time, customers pull into a parking spot near the auto care center and check in on the app.

They enter the center, follow the instructions in the app to unlock an assigned locker and drop the keys into a locker.

Wow.

Live updates of a car's progress are available through the app.

Customers are notified to pick up their keys and pay once their vehicle is ready.

And for context, Walmart currently operates 2,582.

That's an exact number and 2,582 auto care centers within its super centers across the U.S. and my question, what are the chances you get your tires rotated at Walmart's Auto center of the Future in the future?

Oh, very high.

I think it will very high.

Not just, you know, all auto care oil changes, they do tire changes, the works.

And I think that I love this because I think that Walmart is smartly taking something that you have to do and it makes it better.

Not to mention it's great for Walmart because they have a very captive audience.

I mean look at the alternative.

When you get an oil change, you get anything else done like you're sitting in a disgusting waiting room drinking day old coffee like trying to get wi Fi Styrofoam cup.

Yeah, this is not a good experience already.

So if I can go to Walmart and I can get, you know, my stuff for the, for my groceries for the week, I can pick up a birthday present for my kids birthday party and I have that all done and be notified.

Like I think that's the other thing being notified in real time of like where your car is in the process of getting done so that you can plan appropriately.

Like that is where the real customer advantages here, making the most of their time and making this stop ultra convenient for Walmart customers and at a price point that's going to be much lower it sounds like than any other one.

And that's not even with a Walmart plus discount or anything else coming into the fold yet.

So I love this.

I think it's really smart.

Low lift on Walmart's part Because it sounds like they already have auto care centers in most of these places.

So it's just really thinking about how you create the tech and the experience and make that better for the customer.

But yeah, I'm loving it.

Are you going to, are you going to go get your tires change or your oil change next with the Walmart near us?

Yeah, I mean I definitely think it's compelling.

I mean I think it's compelling for a couple of reasons.

You know, there's a few good reasons for me.

I think the one point you didn't mention, I think is really important here is my hunch is the way they're talking about this.

It actually simplifies the design of the overall auto care center operation.

By that I mean it takes costs out for Walmart without having that big of an impact to service and potentially actually increasing its service reputation in so doing so that I love because I've been droning on for the past, I feel like month, month and a half about how investments need to be made to take costs out of your operations without a loss in service.

And that's not an easy thing to do.

And then the other point I'd make is I think it's kind of, you're kind of touching on it but I think I'll bring it out more overtly as I think it, it take continues to take Walmart upmarket.

You're giving your customers a relatively easy way, especially those upper demographic customers that they've been capturing with Walmart plus to get their car service to get it serviced for cheap.

And that plays into another reason why people wouldn't normally consider Walmart.

But it gets them into the parking lot, gets them to try the service, they don't really have to interact with it that much from, from the way the headline was written.

So like, you know, then you might just go in the store and try out Walmart for the first time in the store, you know, if you're that upper demographic.

So I think long term, you know, Walmart plus there's lots of tie ins there too which they haven't really talked about that overtly yet in terms of how this will play in there.

But my hunch is they're thinking about it from talking to the executives that we've talked to over the past year, two years especially.

And so yeah, I think there's just nothing not to like about this.

I love that they're doing this.

I love that they're using the in the future, you know, moniker as well.

We need to see that more often.

Oh, I was going to say I was surprised about it.

I actually think that this is not like futuristic.

It's just, you know, how are you doing?

Never is.

How are you continuing to service your customer in the ways that they aren't expecting it?

And that to me is the real headline here.

Not the, not the, the, the thing that, but I guess, you know, you're trying to get clicks, Chris.

At the end of the day, you're trying to get clicks.

So auto care center of the future, somebody's, somebody's clicking on that.

Doesn't matter what it is.

You're right.

It's basically a digitally enhanced auto care center.

That's basically what we're talking about.

Right?

But, yes.

Yeah.

But, you know, for, given our background, I love that of the future whenever we see it.

Yes.