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 The expansion, which includes adding stores in markets where it
already has a presence, will increase the number of stores with the
service by a third to about 200 and widen its footprint to 30
cities, Michael Bender, chief operating officer of Wal-Mart's
e-commerce operations, said in an interview on Monday.
Bender said that Wal-Mart was preparing to expand further beyond
this move, which could suggest the retailer may look to roll out the
service to a more sizeable portion of its nearly 4,600 stores across
the United States.
"The data we’ve collected gives us confidence that with existing
customers we are getting a larger share of their wallet and that's
complemented by new customers we are bringing into the fold," he
said. "There will be more so stay tuned."
By focusing on in-store pickup, Wal-Mart is aiming to capitalize on
its network of stores, drawing a sharp contrast with Amazon.com <AMZN.O>,
an online-only retailer which has struggled to find the right
pricing model and is delivering groceries in a handful of cities for
a fee.
Other traditional supermarkets are also trying to figure out a
profitable way to sell groceries online.
Kroger <KR.N> offers pickup at 47 locations and more than a 100
stores in its Harris Teeter chain, a company spokesman said. Kroger
charges $4.95 per order after the first three orders. Wal-Mart does
not have pickup fees.
Bender said customer satisfaction scores in its own surveys from the
150 stores and 22 cities it had expanded to in October were in the
mid to high 90's. He said the service was very popular among mothers
with children who like having groceries delivered to their trunk
without having to leave the car.
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In addition to Kansas City, Missouri and Austin, Texas, Wal-Mart
will roll out the service later this month to select stores in
Boise, Idaho; Richmond and Virginia Beach, Virginia; Provo, Utah;
Daphne, Alabama and Charleston, South Carolina.
Shoppers can choose from about 30,000 to 40,000 mainly grocery
items, roughly the same assortment as in stores. After ordering and
paying online, customers drive to the store at a designated time and
a "personal shopper" - a new position that has been added to handle
the job - brings the groceries to your car.
The push in online grocery dovetails with a $2.7 billion investment
that Wal-Mart has made over two years into boosting worker wages and
in training, steps that it hopes will improve its customer service
and translate into higher sales.
Bender said the "personal shoppers" are getting to know their
customers, such as how ripe they like their bananas, and sees
grocery pickup as one way to "help change the perception of the
service at Wal-Mart."
(reporting by Nathan Layne in San Bruno, California; Editing by
Bernard Orr)
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