What: Curbside pickups are a way for Walmart to compete with Amazon.

Why is it important: even though the margin made by Walmart on curbside pickups is lower than normal shopping, it is still positive, versus a negative one on e-commerce for now. In addition, it is riding on maintained customer’s appetite for physical shopping, even though it is made differently.

Curbside pickups are not described in this article as a band-aid to go through the trouble. The US Sephora CEO is quoted mentioning that some customers, who did not use technology before, learned how to shop differently, without questioning the fact of going shopping. Curbside pickups might be seen handier, or quicker, but in any case, they are still worth the trip. This is the reason why major US retailers are increasing their workforce on that channel, such as Walmart, with 74,000 people across 3,000 stores, from a team of 1,000 dedicated to pickup 5 years ago. This raises new questions about margin management, workforce steering, and how to make sure that employees feel valued to the maximum, in a job that could feel like ‘robots’.

Customers still like to shop in person, even if they get only to the Curb