First up, from PC Magazine, June 19:
Walmart plans to replace traditional price stickers with electric shelf labels.
Once installed, the price tags will allow the store to change the price on items as frequently as every 10 seconds. That means a store could make the call to drop the price of a product that’s expected to expire soon or raise the cost of a high-demand item with the click of a button.
Walmart has been testing the technology at its store in Grapevine, Texas, and plans to roll out digital shelf labels (DSLs) to 2,300 stores by the end of 2026. The change represents a significant shift in how store associates manage pricing, inventory, order fulfillment, and customer interactions, Walmart says.
The digital tags reduce the amount of time associates need to spend walking the floor to change paper tags by hand. In the test store, they’ve increased productivity and simplified stock replenishment, ultimately allowing for things to happen faster but also with less staff....
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And at Axios, May 30:
The Federal Aviation Administration has authorized Amazon's delivery drones to fly longer distances without visual spotters, a key hurdle that will allow the retailer to expand its fledgling Prime Air service.
Why it matters: Amazon's goal is to deliver 500 million packages a year by drone by 2029. But first, it had to satisfy government regulators that it could fly safely in increasingly crowded skies.
Zoom in: The company said it spent years developing proprietary "detect-and-avoid" technology.
- The drones' computer vision system includes a series of cameras that scan the skies while in flight, and then check the ground during deliveries to avoid people, animals and other obstacles.
- Amazon successfully validated the system in the presence of FAA inspectors to show that its drones can safely navigate away from planes, helicopters and even hot air balloons.
What's next: Now that it has FAA approval to fly "beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)," Amazon says it will begin scaling drone delivery service to more customers.
- First, it will start delivering to more densely populated areas of College Station, Texas (one of its initial test markets)....
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