Retail giant Walmart invests in technology by Marlene Den Bleyker | Nov 11, 2015 #theCUBE #Walmart #WiDS #WiDSConference #Stanford #WomenInTech #SiliconANGLE  When you think of Walmart, technology may not be the first thing on your mind. However, the retail giant is blending business with technology through @WalmartLabs, a division dedicated to building the next generation of commerce. Kelly Thompson, senior vice president of merchandising for Walmart eCommerce (including Walmart.com, SamsClub.com, and VUDU), spoke with Jeff Frick, cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the Women in Data Science Conference held at Stanford University to explain how the retailer is blending art and science. Solving customer problems Thompson commented on her role as an agent to solving customer problems. Connecting customers with the right products, at the right price, with the right amount of inventory is important to Walmart. “You can buy a product quicker on an e-commerce shelf, and that helps to inform what goes onto a store shelf,” she said. Additionally, she mentioned that the popular chain’s reputation for offering value is a priority when working on pricing to save money for customers. Retailer turns tech startup Walmart is investing in growing its technology base in and around the Bay Area. In effect, the retailer is also developing a technology startup around the core business. “The cool thing about @WalmartLabs is that you can have scale and speed,” both of which are necessary components of e-commerce, according to Thompson. “There is so much data coming out that it is harder to be a merchant now, so merchants can’t humanly digest all that data,” she added. “We partnered with our technologists at @WalmartLabs, and we are trying to help merchants to drive scale and profit through the data process.” Collaboration is key When asked about the dynamic between Walmart and @WalmartLabs, Thompson replied, “One of the things about successful collaboration is humility and knowing that you need each other.” The two teams come to the table in order to blend of business and technology. While it was a cultural shift for Thompson and her team, they were eager to learn new terms and processes. “The data scientists are hungry to learn more about the business side, so you get a ‘mashup’ of business acumen and technology acumen, and to me that is where the excitement is,” Thompson said.