Walmart EVP Cedric Clark on Tech, Culture & the Future of Retail | Shoptalk 2025 Interview

Hello everyone.

This is Omnitalk Retail.

I'm Anne Mazenga.

And I'm Chris Walton.

And we are so excited to bring you this special interview today as part of Shop Talk TV's live coverage here of the show at Shop Talk.

And Chris, we have a very special guest who seems like you and you and Cedric got very well acquainted before this.

Cedric and I have met before.

We've had him on our show.

But for those of you who are meeting him for the first time, we have Walmart's EVP of stores, Cedric Clark.

Welcome back, Cedric.

Thank you for having me.

And if you know, you guys know it, man, it's always an honor and it's always a star moment.

I'm a, I'm a follower.

So that's the whole thing that goes on.

But I appreciate, we, we appreciate you.

Flattery will get you everywhere.

Of course.

Of course.

So I got two questions for you to start out.

So number one, number one, how are you finding Vegas and how are you finding Shoptown?

Well, you know, most people think they come to Vegas to have fun.

Mine's been really to come in here and see all the amazingness that's going on in the retail space.

So it's been kind of non stop, like getting around the floor to see all the innovation that's happening.

And to be honest with you, it's a networking.

Yeah.

All the people for you to like in your role.

My goodness, I feel like you're like a high up person.

You're still, you're still hobnobbing.

22 years ago, man, I was selling fishing licenses.

I'll never lose that energy, you know.

Yeah, mine's always coming in here and seeing the next up and comers and what other people are doing.

It's interesting.

We all have different framing.

Some people move from different companies to different parts of the business and that's been fun.

And my next question is about your background too.

And you know, a lot of stores in your background.

And one of the things I remember from the stores is ABR always be recruiting too or ABN always be networking.

So, so let's talk about that so that tell the audience about yourself and your background and yourself at Walmart.

So now I get the fortune of leading, you know, Walmart.

It's pretty big business, 1.2 million people.

I, I don't run it.

It's one of those scenarios where you get to steward a business of people that do a really great job.

For us, about 4,535 stores.

But really the fun Part is the perspective that I had was just starting, you know, from the ground floor.

Right.

Really being one of those people that, you know, started in the store selling fishing licenses, cashiering 22 years ago and doing several roles since then.

Me and you talked about, I spent some time in ap, but I also got time in the stores, leading all the way up and, you know, now getting the opportunity to make sure we position ourselves to be the best place to shop and work, which I think, you know, most retailers are looking at that way, but Walmart, we're really focused on delivering on that.

Yeah.

I have to ask you, how important do you think it is that people in leadership roles have experience in the stores like you did?

I think it's important.

It's interesting.

Like, maybe you don't have it in the place that you're working now.

There's this whole framing of like, did you start at that?

But everyone started at an entry level.

Right.

So think about whether you were busting tables or, you know, you were working at a pizzeria.

I think you just have to make sure you go back to that perspective when you weren't a decision maker and you were more carrying out action.

And so for me, I just think it's important and everyone's done it, but sometimes I think when we get to some levels, you might kind of lose that touch.

And I'll, I'll tell you this, I'll share this later in the segment that we'll.

I'll be speaking at.

Yeah, I think Perspective has an expiration date individually.

Yeah.

What I see and what I know, it will expire if I don't actually stay close to what's truly going on.

And so that's truly what I try to live by.

That allows me to stay engaged and stay relevant with the different changes and generations and people that are coming in our business.

That might be the quote of the show for me.

And Perspective has an expiration date.

Yeah, I mean, it's not, it's not too bad.

Let's go into.

You started talking about it.

You're going to be on stage later today.

What are you planning on covering during that session?

Yeah, there's a lot of innovation.

I think the last time we talked, everyone's taking some form of investments in this technology.

You talk about artificial intelligence, even thinking about automating a supply chain, but the center of it is making sure that we're aligned on our purpose.

So what I'm going to be talking about is you have to start with the purpose, which is your Culture.

And for us, there might be an acronym for it, but this whole framing of people, led, tech powered.

Yes.

We're going to be this Omni retailer, meaning you can get it how you want it, when you want it, but it will never be framed outside of the fact that we want to help people save money and live better.

Yeah.

And so for me, what we're going to dive into is these examples around digital shelf labels where, you know, I remember when I did start 22 years ago, like we thought innovation was actually pricing everything, that it had a barcode when it came.

Right.

Is this like it has Bluetooth technology and it might be have RFID type of framing to it.

And so you can't do it for the sake of doing that.

It has to really create an experience where your associate can have a great experience and really feel like they did a great job today because you innovated.

But also it helps them position themselves to have a great experience with the customer.

Right.

Like you take care of your associates, your customers get the benefit of that.

So the sphere of that will be around, you know, culture, keeping people at the center of it.

Leverage technology to simplify it.

And then this framing of, like, when you do want to move fast and rolling things out, you got to have a process in that.

You got to test it, you got to pilot it, get feedback.

Right.

And before you get to rolling it, it can't be a big bang theory.

You got to take iterative approaches in making sure that functional change will stick.

Right.

So we'll talk about that.

Yeah, it's great.

I can't wait for that.

So.

So, Cedric, this is kind of a tech conference and, you know, so I'm going to play off the acronym here.

Pltp.

Yeah, Tech powered little pltp.

I'm going to start saying that on my podcast.

And so we know that's core to you.

Yes.

Like it's fundamental.

You hear, not just you, but every Walmart executive is saying those four words.

Yes.

And so I'm curious, because it's a tech conference, you mentioned one already.

I'm sure there might be others.

But what are some of the tech.

Or if you want to go into the DSLs too, in more detail, what are some of the technologies that you at Walmart are very bullish on or investing in?

Yeah.

So first I'll start with, you know, we're going to be looking at what we call my Walmart.

So it's kind of.

It's our operating system.

So think of the phone or the device that's in the associate's hand, just having a one stop shop first with the physical device in that this, my Walmart app will have anything that they need to do as it relates to their job.

Any technologies that we've introduced, any artificial intelligence that we want to be able to inform decisions that they make, it all flows through that.

So I'll start with that operating system.

Okay.

Then I'll dive into.

When you think about true technologies that I'm super excited about.

Yes.

Digital shelf labels.

There's journeys of where there's other retailers that have engaged in that.

We have over 600 stores.

We're in, I think the last time we talked it was 300 with 600 stores.

Okay.

Wow.

Which when you do have that in your store, you remember that day?

Yeah.

You used to go in the back of the perforated, you know, the sheet and slide it in there.

Paper cuts and that doesn't happen anymore.

But you know, for me though, it's also the technology within the digital chef label that it has indicator lights that say I showed up and it's my first day and I'm going to be doing a pick walk to where I'm shopping for a customer that did an online order.

Imagine if I can hit a button, right.

And it actually lights up and I actually can see exactly where that item is.

That changes the game on me, feeling like my work was worthwhile.

Right.

So that one's a big on day one.

On day.

Right, right.

And you know, that's a big part of our journey of retention.

If you feel good on day one and you feel like you're contributing on day one, it's really hard for you to walk away from that organization, let alone leadership being great as well.

The other one for me too is we've been talking about, we call it this fig, but using computer vision where you know, you take that device, you turn it to, you know, landscape and you could be looking at these items in the back that have QR codes on them.

And because of the system data that's in it, behind the scenes it tells you that hey, this starts to light up red.

You know what you could pick based on the shelf capacity that you have and the amount of on hands that you have that it should go to the floor.

So leveraging these things that will allow that associate to feel like, man, I showed up, I got this box, put it on a, you know, on, on a, on a cart, took it out and it went to the shelf again.

There's that journey of wow, this is an amazing Experience.

And then the last one, I'll say that, you know, everyone's talking about now.

But no, I'm pretty excited.

But AI, you know, artificial intelligence.

And there's different versions of it.

You have the basic, this agentic AI, which is more around an agent, like kind of supporting almost an assistant.

We want to leverage that Me at Walmart app to have behind the scenes, just informing them on the tasks that they do for the day where you come in.

And it could really get you aligned on based on the truck showing up on time.

If you're a stalker, this is where we want you to show up first.

So could you imagine this like nudge and that like positions you to say, like, this is the first thing you do.

And you guys, you guys ran.

You guys are in the business.

Yeah.

So you used to have to go have a meeting to do that.

You'd have to meet with the manager and they'd be like, I need you in hba.

I need you over.

Could you imagine this system being like an assistant, me at Walmart getting that associate exposure to actual tasks that will.

That they can jump into.

And then as they complete them, it's showing them like, man, you did this in a great job.

You were efficient doing this.

And these are the things that I think we're going to have to engage in.

When you think about a large business and large human capital amount, like, we have to make sure they stay highly engaged in supporting things that are going to win for the customer.

Yeah.

And the other part you make me think of to Cedric is, you know, in the old world, you just used to also just kind of do the same thing every day.

Yes.

And now you're saying like, yeah, that's probably not always the best thing to do.

Right.

Well, one example is because the truck might not show up, man, this I think we're like, we're like, I know.

I'm not getting in the way, but like, so.

So.

And the truck doesn't show up.

Yes.

What happens in that time is we have some leaders that we assign to be there.

What are they going to do?

Usually that's inefficient.

Yeah.

But now, because the system knows that truck doesn't show up, how about I send you over to Fresh and I want you to go to produce and get out the strawberries because we know that we have this amount of strawberries, but we want to make sure we get that in stock.

So this actually kind of changes the game of leveraging the leaders people led that you have and putting them In a position to win no matter what happens, and using data behind them to support that.

So, so is the, Is the team member device then kind of the.

Are you envisioning it as kind of the mission control center for the individual?

Exactly.

Almost like if they didn't have it, you feel like something's right.

It's a bit how kids are with their phones and technology now.

I want to understand that we have kids, but from a standpoint of doing your job, like you don't want to walk in there.

It's almost.

It's your uniform in some ways.

So it's like.

And I would love it to where it's like, man, if I didn't have it, I feel like I'm going to be less successful.

And then we'll continue.

I mean, you got wearables, there's different technologies that you can continue to evolve that too.

But right now that would be a great solution to support, you know, being the best place to work.

And I imagine it eliminates a little bit of the bias based on, like, who the manager is that day and what their priorities are versus, like, what are the best priorities for the business in general, for the associates.

And then the manager's there to answer the questions that are more about development or, you know, like how to do something well or train.

Actually using the.

The human to train the human to do things the right way and interact well.

And here's another component in it.

Could you imagine when you're doing the work, you guys know how AI is.

It's actually learning you.

Yeah.

So if someone's really good at that task.

Yeah.

How about we continually have them in a position to be able to do that?

And if they're really good and there's areas where we know that the customer needs our engagement, there you can have that person in the right place at the right time to deliver on a great experience for the customer.

That's what I'm excited about is almost using like some version of Digital Insights, Digital Twinning to create this opportunity for this associate to now be put in the system to be successful.

Yeah.

Well, and that.

And that goes in.

I know something else you're passionate about is like kind of the.

The new KPIs of retail.

Right.

And so the other part of the AI aspect of what you're talking about is, and you mentioned a little bit, but just to tease it out, is you can assess the impact or get a sense of the impact that that individual team member is having on the business, which is important as we work through like what are those new KPIs for how we need to do retail?

Yeah, yeah.

And that I think, you know, when I say perspective has an expiration date if we have the same KPIs that we've had 20 years.

And there's some things that don't change revenue sales, but when we get down to the behavior for that associate and those lead measures that equate to actions, we're gonna have to really step back and say what will actually position them to feel like, oh man, by doing this behavior, this is what this correlates to and all bets are off.

When you think about what the customer is going to need.

We want to make sure we position the coast the associate to deliver on that.

So I'm excited about that.

And you know, as you guys can see, like man, it's not your 25 or 22 year ago retailer.

Yeah, we're, we're really, really engaged and I'm at a tech conference, but we're all tech conferences companies.

We're leveraging technology to power the team.

And that's the fun part.

Well, we're going to shift gears a little bit and since you mentioned 22 years, I'm not going to get in trouble for saying that.

You've been at Walmart for a while.

Yep.

But I want to play a little game with you.

It's called then and now.

Oh.

So Cedric, I'm going to ask you about a few things about Walmart and I want to know what they were like when you started out selling fishing licenses, 20 plus, not to number, not to be named, years ago and how they are now.

And I really want to get a sense of like explaining from your perspective how Walmart has really catapulted to being one of the top leading retailers in the US So the first thing I want to ask you about is store experience.

What was the store experience then and what's the store experience like now?

Yeah, I feel like the store experience was me figuring out when my manager was gonna tell me based on experience.

Maybe they got some feedback from a customer.

Like I did a good or not a good.

So good job.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it was like maybe you got caught.

Maybe there was insight and there was just really no way other than like sweepstakes on a receipt to where you can like if you win, give us some feedback.

It wasn't really this continual like framing of me actually governing what I need to do to deliver the customer.

Now we're in a scenario where think of the amount of people that go through our store.

Stores.

Yeah.

How we can actually at a five star on a.

On a self checkout, you can hear Right.

Or you can get insight right then and there by hour, Knowing who's working where and begin to give nudges on like, hey, we're seeing this isn't a good experience.

I don't want to ruin that for someone in the next hour.

Yeah.

So we're able to now really be more intentional and kind of positioning ourselves to be better and adjust.

Yeah.

I think the biggest thing I'll take it up to is we couldn't adjust and we weren't agile enough.

And now data that's put us in that position.

Okay, what about the physical store box itself?

How has that evolved since.

Since fishing license.

Well, you know what's interesting about that is, you know, inventory levels.

So we'll just talk about that.

What I feel really good about is like inventory levels have been at levels that are very manageable.

And we've seen that over the last two years.

Like we've really managed our inventory well.

Well, when you think about like 22 years ago, like I was in sporting goods, we'd have trailers of exercise equipment, we'd have trailers of.

And part of it was, did we have the data insight on like when was that supposed to come?

Was it.

Would it be just in time?

Yeah.

So a lot of times the inventory that we send in the stores, you guys have worked on the corporate side, like I just need to get enough there to where I can keep the storage field.

But it probably might have been a little more than they needed.

Right.

So now the signals that we have, there's more of a just in time inventory level.

I.

I think a year ago we changed even that.

You'd have to force out the truck to be full for us to feel like we got efficiency in the supply chain, which would end up at the store.

Yeah.

Now we got to the position where the truck could be 60% full.

And we still have success because what we're doing is we're getting them the inventory that they need at that time.

And so now in the store, like I just feel like it's more manageable.

You understand what's going on.

Then we now have signals of when it shows up to the back door.

And even how our technology talks with between the distribution center and the store.

Understanding, like when the handoff happens, which makes our inventory timing more accurate, which helps the customer.

Right.

I was gonna say too, it's even more of like a coordinated effort.

Right.

Cedric, with all the different things you have from an omnichannel perspective going on.

And like you said before, like, the people come in the store to pick and deliver and all the things that are going on there.

Yeah.

All right.

The next thing I have to ask you about is being an associate at Walmart.

How does that look different?

I mean, you, Doug McMillan.

I mean, a few people have started in the stores and worked their way up, but what.

How do you think that's changed and, like, how Walmart thinks about their associates and their development internally?

Yeah.

And I, you know, first, I'll start with physical.

I mean, we used to have different vests, different color vests.

So I remember that.

I love that the fashion is the first thing that's pointed out.

I had that brown vest.

It was a little different.

The cashiers had the blue one.

The CSM's had red.

So a bit of that physical nature of different parts of the business.

Okay.

You guys remember that we were trying to identify where people were.

What's kind of evolved is everyone should be able to help everywhere.

So what you would see in our store now is our vests are all the same.

And we're actually going to be.

You guys will be seeing soon.

We'll have a new version of what, you know, our vests look like, and we'll be sharing some of that at shareholders, which is going to be.

Oh, my God.

All right, is Denise and Candela doing, like a Runway show?

Yeah, right, right.

But what I'll say is what hasn't really changed is just me, man.

The associate being the heart of what we do.

I think that's the fun part is, like, our listening culture of the best ideas come from the stores.

Even as we talk about these things that we want to do and roll out in the stores, the feedback they're giving us and the iterations we make based on that feedback are actually what makes us successful.

And then a shout out to our associates.

We just have some of the most resilient human beings and associates that I've had experience to the humble nature of what we do, this discipline, excellence.

Like, that really hasn't changed.

And it's interesting.

That probably was the thing that created our success as we got to the point now where we're going to be able to leverage technologies to win well.

And you're setting them up for careers at Walmart.

I mean, I think that's a really big thing.

Chris, we talked about on our show, like, you can make a.

A nice salary if you stay on as a general Manager or as a regional manager of a Walmart store or Walmart location.

So.

So okay, Walmart's overtly investing in that.

Yes.

Correct.

That's the key point.

Right.

Disproportionately investing there.

Absolutely.

Great call out.

Okay.

Let's talk lastly about your customers experience and loyalty.

You've brought in some new customers.

You are now bringing in a high income shopper, stealing them away from a few other places that are in the mass retail space.

What do you think has changed about that?

What is Walmart doing to kind of both set up the store and the store experience to support that and then where they want to take it and what new audiences and demographics are going to.

And I think as the customer has evolved, I think we've understood we've had to position ourselves there.

A few things on my mind is pandemic happened and I think it forced us all to really look at delivery as not just like a nice to have and truly it became a need to have.

Yeah.

And then once you did that then we had to figure out how do you make money doing it it.

And yes, that's great from a standpoint of like a business but part of that is the customer has to be coming back repeatedly for you to be able to do that.

And so a few things we did with now having digital shoppers.

Yep.

In the stores that are shopping as avatars in some way for the customer.

And so it's interesting I also get a vision of what my in stock levels are looking like when they physically show up to the shelf.

Is that product there?

Yeah.

That signal also helps inform me from a standpoint of inventory levels.

Yes, exactly.

So all of this now is creating this journey of accuracy of availability which I think is the multi billion dollar challenge of like if you don't have the product to trade with them, you can't make the trade.

And then physically in the stores is we've done these remodels, you know, we've done over 600 plus a year as we're doing these, we're adding vignettes to where you can see a complete solution whether it's you know, buying, you know, for back to school, the bed, the pillows, the couch.

Right.

I love that.

And then just in our stores like we just have new items.

You know, Latrice Watkins and that team have done a good job with even our private brand better goods.

Like we're really getting into making sure they understand with Walmart it's quality as well as.

Right.

You're going to get in there and get it at an amazing, amazing price.

Because everyday low price is.

Is completely a foundational truth for us.

Yeah.

All right.

You passed.

Okay.

Okay, good.

All right, the quiz.

Yeah, right.

The quiz is done.

And now.

And now.

Yes.

Yeah, Chris, I'll let you take it away.

All right, so.

So one question I want to ask you.

You know, there's probably a lot of people out there watching.

They're saying to themselves, you know, like, sure, this all works for Walmart, because you guys are massive.

You have.

You have, you know, X number of years, you know, behind you.

But, you know, as you and I were talking about beforehand, I think there's a lot more to that.

I think there's an ethos at play.

I think there's a secret sauce here.

So what talk about that.

What is that secret sauce?

What are the principles that you guys have put in place that enables you to continually be successful and to be, quite honestly, from our opinion, lead the pack?

Yeah, you have to start with being pretty obsessed with the customer you get to serve.

And I think that's a huge start.

I think, you know, gosh, our company's 62 years old, and we'll be 60, 63 this year, which is just amazing to think about.

And all the evolution that's happened, we've never lost touch with the fact that we wanted to be America's favorite through allowing them to save money and live better through what we do.

Now, when I'm thinking of other retailers, like, that is our purpose.

You got to have a clear purpose of what you stand for.

And for us, whether it's pltp, like, you got to be people led.

And for us, we're leveraging any of the technologies to power those people to be able to deliver a great experience for the customer.

I think really setting that system forward has allowed our teams to work and not have to look over their shoulder as they're actually in whatever level they are driving that success for the business.

That, to me, has been the secret sauce.

I think one last component that we've done that, you know, I'm not saying it doesn't happen to other retailers, but we're just so intentional about it.

But listening, you know, this whole notion of the best ideas come from.

That's not.

I just come from the associates.

That's not lip service.

You know, we just did our.

Your beginning meeting, and we have listening sessions where all of our store managers in certain areas, we segment.

Segment them by where we have two of our BU's at a time go through, and they can Come to a mic and they can talk to myself, John, Karen, Hari, who leads, you know, our, you know, our technology.

You have all the leaders in front of you and you can come up and be like, hey, what is going on?

And then the rapid response to be able to resolve some of those issues that culture creates this ideology, in my opinion of like minimizing the separation between leadership and the stores.

And then for me, it just takes me right back to the fact that I could have a 22 year experience.

And yes, I start as hourly and now I'm in this position to lead the stores, but I'm still stewarding the hearts and minds of those that are on a different journey in time that I was, but still in the sole framework of making it the best place to shop and work.

And that, that to me just allows me to step back and say like, yes, you can simplify it that way, but like, man, it's pretty fun when you're doing with amazing associates like that.

Yeah, yeah.

So I want to pressure on that a little bit more too because I really understand it.

So like, how much of it does come back to just the ethos of the brand promise of, you know, save money, live better.

Like, I'm curious, are you guys in meetings with each other and you're like asking yourself, Zach, when you guys get in a real hardcore debate, are you like, hey, let's, let's step back and say, like, is this decision living up to our brand promise or how do we look at it within the context of that?

Is that like a living, breathing language in the organization?

It's a part of our like, DNA.

So it's interesting, like there's times in a meeting where we're discussing something and someone me would just say, like, if a customer was sitting in here, how would they feel about this decision we're making?

And so that's where, you know, one of the things we try not to do is your org chart shouldn't show up to the customer, meaning your decision making in this is because as an organization, this is the easiest way to do it.

And so we really challenged ourselves to say, like, the customer doesn't need to see any of that.

They just need to get what they want, when they want.

And then for us, it has to be at an unbeatable price, unbeatable quality with our broad assortment.

And then for us, that associate has to be happy creating that experience because we made it easy for them.

Isn't it's, it's, it's in every meeting the energy of that's in every meeting.

What I love about, we talked about a little bit earlier, Chris and I, that you.

No one gets in trouble when you're talking about being a maverick.

No one gets in trouble for leaving a seat empty and saying that would be the customer.

Meaning is this something they would be proud that we're doing to drive the business?

And then obviously we're smart enough to understand we run a business and we're a for profit organization we can work on how do we make that viable for us to continue to invest, to be able to do that repeatedly.

So it's pretty fun.

It's a great, pretty fun.

And it is a part of our DNA.

That's a great nugget to leave on though.

The org chart doesn't matter to the customer.

It doesn't.

I love that.

It doesn't love that.

Well, Cedric, anything else that you're excited about in the coming year or that you're looking forward to that you want to share with the audience?

Any teasers or anything that you.

Yeah, I mean there's things that we can't share that I'm really excited about.

There's technologies that you guys are going to, you know, you'll see.

So we'll have content for our fast five for the rest of the year.

I'm sure you guys will keep us busy.

We'll keep you busy.

But you know what I am excited about is keeping the main thing, the main thing.

And what you can do when you show up to your local Walmart or you show up shopping on your phone, you're going to get some great prices.

And no matter what's going on in the macro microeconomic space, I think what we have to make sure we focus on is internally we can deliver the best place to shop and work by making sure the customers know that in meetings.

And what we do, it is going to be all about helping them save money so they can position themselves to maximize their living experience.

And that to me, I get excited about that when I am looking into the things that we're doing and where I can deliver on that.

That's going to be the fun part this year.

And then stay tuned.

Yes.

With your Fast5, there will be things that you guys will hear about it and you know, we iteratively do it.

We got shareholders coming up.

There's going to be some great things that you guys will get some exposure to.

Well, you're reliable.

That's the thing.

You're dependable, you're reliable.

We can count on you for everyday low prices.

Exactly.

And excellent quality.

Thank you so much, Cedric, for sharing with your time with us today.

Chris and I have to go get ready to get on stage again ourselves.

Later today, we're going to be posting the Shop Talk takeaways with the Shop Talk team, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

And Chris, I think, until then, be careful out there.

Yep.

See you guys.

Thank you.