Walmart has launched an initiative allowing start-ups to pitch their technology to the retailer, culminating in an in-store trial.

The US supermarket giant’s latest initiative, entitled Technology Innovation Open Call, will allow start-ups to pitch their technology to the retailer in conjunction with a retail summit taking place in October.

The grocer will be accepting nominations from up to 250 retail technology start-ups, with up to 30 start-ups being selected to pitch to a selection of Walmart executives at the Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit.

This is the latest initiative from Walmart’s innovation hub Lab 415-C and will allow the winning start-ups to trial their technology in Walmart’s stores.

Walmart is investing heavily in its technology offer to gain ground from competitors Target and Amazon. The US retail heavyweight spent £7.27bn on its information technology last year and plans to spend a further £1.38bn on its ecommerce offer by the end of next year.

Its rival payment app to Apple, Walmart Pay, is also due to be launched in June.