Over the last two decades, Walmart has grown into one of the biggest, if not the biggest, retailer in just about every category of physical items one can purchase, from home goods to electronics to groceries. Now, with seven patent applications filed by the Arkansas-based giant at the end of 2021, Walmart is setting itself up to also become a major purveyor of digital goods, from virtual currency to NFTs.
There is still relatively little information about how Walmart intends to make use of its brand when it comes to virtual goods. However, from the breadth of the language used in the applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it seems that nothing is off the table. Among the next-gen goods named in the applications are virtual merchandise, financial services such as digital currencies, and software for the management of cryptocurrency and other digital assets.
Naturally, Walmart is far from the only retail outlet to make inroads into the digital goods market. At the same time Walmart was filing its patents, top-tier names like Nike, Gap, and Adidas were putting their own digital brand portfolios in order when it comes to NFTs and their own digital trading platforms.
