Walmart to expand grocery delivery
Retail giant announces latest effort to keep online rival Amazon at bay
NEW YORK— Walmart is expanding its same-day online grocery delivery service to more than 40 per cent of U.S. households, or 100 metro areas, by year-end as it tries to keep pace with online leader Amazon.com.
The service is currently available in six markets.
Tom Ward, vice-president of Walmart’s digital operations, says the retail giant is powering the expansion of its same-day delivery service using its online grocery pickup program. That service uses personal shoppers to select items and then take them to shoppers’ cars parked at the curb.
Amazon . . . has raised the stakes in the highly competitive grocery delivery wars
So far, Walmart offers curbside grocery pickup at 1,200 stores and plans to accelerate the rollout to 2,200 by yearend. It’s currently using 18,000 personal shoppers.
Walmart says it will continue to use ride-hailing services such as Uber to deliver the goods to shoppers’ homes as it expands its service.
Shoppers pay a flat fee of $9.95 (U.S.) but are required to spend at least $30 per order.
Walmart Inc. has also been testing a service using its U.S. store workers to drop off general merchandise such as toys and bedding to customers’ homes after they finish work.
Ward noted that Walmart is learning from its delivery services in such countries as China and the United Kingdom.
Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market last year has raised the stakes in the highly competitive grocery delivery wars. Amazon recently added free two-hour Whole Foods de- livery to six cities, including Atlanta, Dallas and Cincinnati for its Prime members who pay $99 a year.
Meanwhile, grocery startup Instacart has been expanding its roster of clients, including B.J.’s and Kroger.
And Target, through its acquisition of grocery delivery startup Shipt last year, is expanding same-day delivery of such items as groceries and electronics to nearly every major market by the holiday shopping season.