Walmart Kiosk & Shopping Cart

I contributed to the interaction and visual design of Walmart China’s in-store kiosk and smart cart, focusing on enabling a frictionless shelf-to-checkout shopping experience.

My involvement included competitive analysis, full design execution, close collaboration with engineers, and continuous iteration.

We found that traditional supermarket shopping involves multiple disconnected steps—from discovering products to checkout—often requiring physical navigation, repeated decision-making, and waiting in line. Unlike digital experiences, users lack clear guidance, real-time feedback, and efficient tools to streamline their journey.

Adapting traditional retail models, we observed significant inefficiencies: users spend excessive time navigating aisles and waiting at checkout, with peak-hour queues increasing total shopping time by up to 30–40%. The lack of integration between browsing and checkout creates friction throughout the journey.

Our first step was to rethink the traditional cashier-based checkout experience. Instead of relying on staff-operated counters, we introduced in-store self-service kiosks that empower customers to complete transactions independently. This shift reduces wait times, improves efficiency during peak hours, and gives users more control over their shopping journey.

While self-service kiosks reduced checkout wait times, customers still wasted time navigating aisles, searching for products, and managing their carts. The need to stop and complete checkout also interrupted the shopping flow. This revealed an opportunity to redesign the entire journey into a more seamless and continuous experience.

We introduced a smart cart with a connected screen to enable real-time item recognition and seamless interaction. As users scan items, they are instantly added to a digital cart, allowing users to review, manage, and complete checkout directly without stopping at a kiosk. Beyond checkout, the smart cart also enables product search and in-store navigation, guiding users to exact item locations and reducing time spent wandering the aisles.

Our redesigned in-store experience, combining self-service kiosks and smart shopping carts, significantly reduced friction across the shopping journey. By enabling real-time item scanning, seamless checkout, and guided navigation, we streamlined the process from product discovery to payment, improving both efficiency and user satisfaction.