eMarketer Retail

On Monday, Walmart said that it's launching a tech incubator to invest in robotics, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. Walmart has invested in or bought other startups in the past, but the company said the latest initiative is about "making big bets on the ideas that will transform the future of retail." The innovation hub is called Store No. 8, after an early experimental store Walmart founder Sam Walton used for new ideas. "We are creating an ecom incubator and budgeting capital to build startups," Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart.com and founder of Walmart-acquired Jet.com, said at the Shoptalk conference in Las Vegas. "It'll be wholly owned by Walmart but made of independent companies."