Walmart CEO Talks 3D Printing

[Brian_Krassenstein]

We all know that Walmart is the largest retail chain on the planet. It is interesting to hear the CEO of the company talk about their plans and his views on 3D printing. 3D Printing could one day make retail stores like Walmart irrelevant, unless they adapt and adopt the technology themselves. In the article here, http://3dprint.com/4640/walmart-mcmillon-3d-printing/, McMillon discusses the possibility of Walmart acquiring a 3D printing company, and gives his thoughts on the technology in general.

What do you guys think? What steps will Walmart need to take to avoid being threatened by people at home downloading, and then 3D printing out their products instead of taking a trip to their local retail store?

[atoff]

What do you guys think? What steps will Walmart need to take to avoid being threatened by people at home downloading, and then 3D printing out their products instead of taking a trip to their local retail store?

They'll not need to do anything, 3D printing isn't going to disrupt retail for a long long long time.

[Cris]

They will need to work with manufacturers to provide and monetize 3D printable files for consumer goods. Basically what Apple did in the music industry.

I work for a 3D printing firm and 3D printing is already disrupting the retail space. I think most people would be surprised at how 3D printing is being implemented and who is using it. We've printed parts for large companies and individuals. I've seen individuals save $1000s and one company in particular save tens of millions of dollars because of 3D printing. It will just continue to grow.

Walmart should take note, Amazon, their biggest threat, is already selling 3D-printed objects. Here's a link to their store.

[RobH2]

As much as we all love 3d printers, they are not going to replace every manufacturing process in the world. 3d printing, as we know (but many non-users don't), is only good for certain things. Out of the 10's of thousands of products that WalMart sells, I'd guess that there are only a few hundred that risk any incursion by 3d printing at home. From a typical consumers point of view, you can't print clothing, cookware, cleaning products, toiletries, vast majority of car parts, medical supplies, electronics and furniture. That's just the first things that pop into my head that 3d printers won't supplant. I can see WalMart selling 3d printers but I don't see 3d printers chopping in into the billions of dollars they rake in any time soon.