Walmart has signed a definitive contract to purchase Alert Innovation, a micro-fulfilment centre (MFC) developer startup. Both companies have been jointly working on a multi-year pilot of Walmart’s robotic grocery order-fulfilment technology called Alphabot. Walmart is buying Alert to amp up its efforts to fulfil e-commerce orders more efficiently as the firm gears up to deal with the labour shortage. The monetary aspects of the deal have not been disclosed by the companies. John Lert, Alert’s founder and executive chairman, reported that Alert will continue innovating the grocery industry with Walmart.
Full story: GroceryDive
