Walmart says 65% of stores will be serviced by automation in 2026, keeps forecast

Walmart Inc on Tuesday said it expects about 65% of its stores to be serviced by automation by the end of its fiscal year 2026, just days after it revealed plans to lay off more than 2,000 people at online order fulfillment centers.

The move comes as Walmart has increasingly been using its huge stores to handle online-order deliveries and investing heavily in automation to eliminate the time it takes to process orders at its e-commerce fulfillment facilities.

On Tuesday, the company said in a filing that about 55% of packages that it processes at its fulfillment centers will be routed through automated facilities by the end of fiscal 2026, improving unit cost averages by about 20%.

The world's largest retailer by sales also maintained its forecast for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2024, which calls for net sales to rise by 2.5% to 3% and earnings by $5.90 to $6.05 per share.