Walmart is closing e-com-inspired stores

The company ends a multi-year experiment aimed at improving services in the direction of e-commerce.

Retail giant Walmart announced the imminent closure of two stores focused on delivery and pickup services. Thus, the company ends a multi-year experiment aimed at improving services in the direction of e-commerce.

Stores in Bentonville, Arkansas, and Lincolnwood, Illinois, are to be closed. In addition, Walmart has decided to close several standard outlets in New Mexico, Florida and Wisconsin due to poor financial performance. The outlets will cease operations by March 10.

The company, which is growing the world’s largest retailer, has realized there is no need for dedicated delivery-oriented stores. Over the years, the retailer has added this feature to several thousand traditional outlets.

However, Walmart promises to “continue to innovate its pickup and delivery services to best serve customers,” the statement said.

The e-commerce-focused stores operated in a scaled-down format of 25,000 and 42,000 square feet versus 150,000 to 200,000 square feet for the average Walmart retail center.