Walmart Inc at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Let me jump to -- so you come from the international business, which is smaller but more diverse geographically and in some cases businesses that are less mature than the US. Can you compare and contrast what stage of technology development, what you learn from them, where the US may be ahead and vice versa.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : If you take all of the areas of tech applications from supply chain to automation to advertising to software to information, is the US the most ahead of the rest of the market today or is there a model out there that is more ahead.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Before we get into the meat, another question from more of a retail analyst perspective. You're a technologist and you've worked at these mega tech platforms over time. Now you're working inside the veil of a retailer. Can you talk about culturally, Walmart's level of embracing of technology? What's positive, what's, I don't know, frustrating. Talk about those pros and cons and how Walmart embrace technology.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Customer-facing tech. Let's start with what's changing or what's evolving in the customer experience with tech. What is the customer seeing today and then what is on the come in terms of what they're going to experience?

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Assistance Search, Fair example. What about at the store level? Are there examples of either technology or AI application that could end up at the store for the physical experience?

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : You mentioned the saving of 4 million labor hours. I said that correct. So the follow up to the customer facing side is the behind the scenes. Operations infrastructure, what are the technology initiatives that are being pursued there and then what's on the come.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : AI question. So as AI and then more specifically Gen AI and Agentic AI as they continue to evolve, can you give specific examples of how Walmart is leveraging the technology to improve its operations?

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Are you finding that the tech stack that you work on or that works under you makes a difference and then deploying the AI? And this is also applicable to, we look at retailers asking the right questions about how tech stacks are built and what they're used for in their adaptability to leverage AI.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : In managing and building global platforms, what strategies is Walmart implementing to ensure that you can scale and then seamlessly integrate across the different markets that you operate in?

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : It is, yes.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : You hinted on this a couple of minutes ago, I think two questions ago, internally built versus outsourced. So can you just remind us what portion of Walmart's infrastructure, systems infrastructure, is internally built versus outsourced? Does that even matter? Should I even be asking that question?

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : So the bigger getting bigger in retail and across actually many verticals across the corporate America. Scale looks like it should be an advantage as well for Walmart when it comes to tech spending. Is that logic right? And how the company has what resources to spend and access to information so that advantage keeps reinforcing itself? Does that resonate? Is that a fair point?

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : That illustration, which I think we'll see some of it in -- at Analyst Day, that should be cutting-edge relative to what's out there in terms of fulfillment capabilities and automation.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : It was partly a loaded question because I think some competitors in retail that name their robots. There's a perception that they're ahead as far as some of that picking technology. And I don't -- I think the market doesn't appreciate where Walmart has gotten to in automation, so.

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : To close in about a minute, use of data, feels like it should be a game changer for Walmart, the amount of data you have. I can only think, even what VIZIO and that partnership can combine to, but not just in advertising, just pure customer data. So can you talk about how could data tip the scales for Walmart going forward?

Question: Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Okay. Well, we appreciate you being here. Thank you for giving us a glimpse into how Walmart is using technology. Thank you very much.