Walmart merges teams to link online and stores

Walmart Stores is merging an Arkansas-based division that develops computer systems for its stores with a fast-growing technology unit in Silicon Valley, aiming to hasten its move to compete in the online era.

The information systems division, based at the world's largest retailer's headquarters in Arkansas, will combine with the @WalmartLabs unit next month, creating a new group called Walmart Technology, a company spokesman said on Friday.

Customers expect retailers to have technology that helps them shop more effectively whether they are using a PC or mobile phone or picking up an item at a store. "Our customers don't think of these as different experiences. To them, it's just Walmart or Sam's Club," Neil Ashe, head of the company's e-commerce division, said.

Ashe pointed to the recent launch of mobile payment service Walmart Pay as the kind of collaboration it hopes to foster with the organisational change. The service was developed jointly by ISD and @WalmartLabs.