Walmart’s Antidote to Locked Up-Products: A Key on Your Phone

  • Some staff can use mobile devices to unlock display cases
  • Technology could be offered to Walmart+ loyalty members

Shelves of baby formula in a Walmart Supercenter in Houston, Texas. 

Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Lock
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Walmart Inc. is testing technology in stores that would let people open security locks for products from their cellphones, a bid to protect against theft without hindering sales.

The technology is live in a few hundred Walmart stores and allows employees to unlock cases without manually using keys, according to a person familiar with the test who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.