Store No. 8

Store No. 8 operates as a separate legal entity and innovation arm of Walmart, initially designed to function with startup-like autonomy away from the company's Bentonville headquarters. In 2024, following the departure of its founding head, Walmart tightened integration, bringing the unit closer to core retail operations while maintaining its venture and incubation mandate (per The Information, March 2024).

The firm makes early-stage venture investments and creates startup companies from scratch through an incubation model. Targets include robotics, autonomous delivery, spatial commerce, artificial intelligence, and conversational commerce platforms that have direct application to Walmart's retail and e-commerce operations.

Store No. 8 is specifically focused on frontier technologies with a longer time horizon for commercialization. Walmart's broader Global Tech organization and corporate development team handle incremental innovation, internal platform builds, and acquisitions of mature companies. The distinction is incubation and early venture risk versus operational technology deployment.

Store No. 8 was led from its 2017 founding by Scott Eckert. Eckert departed in early 2024. As of the latest available information, Walmart has not publicly named a direct replacement, with the unit's investment decisions now managed within a more integrated Walmart corporate innovation structure (per The Information, March 2024).

The path to scale is integration into Walmart's operations or a separate commercialization path. Alert Innovation, an automated grocery fulfillment startup incubated by Store No. 8, was acquired by Walmart and deployed inside the company's supply chain. Others, like Zipline, have pursued external partnerships after testing programs with Walmart (per CNBC, 2021).