Peek inside Walmart’s giant ‘vending machine’ factory that ships your Black Friday orders

Walmart’s latest shipping facilities hold more than a million square feet of goods that serve 95% of the U.S. population and counting.

Walmart’s big plan to win you over this Black Friday involves 80 miles of tracks and 6,800 robots—its latest armaments in a war to rule retail through an otherwise dull word: logistics.

Walmart lagged behind Amazon’s quick deliveries and easy digital ordering for years. That was, until it began rethinking its own logistics and investing in subscription deliveries straight from stores. So far, the plan has worked. Walmart’s e-commerce sales are up 20% year over year, while its more premium peer, Target, is struggling.