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The
world's largest retailer said it would begin test deliveries
within the next two weeks in Denver and Phoenix. Wal-Mart's
warehouse unit Sams Club began a pilot in March with startup
Deliv to dispatch groceries to business customers in Miami.
Improving delivery times is seen as a way to appeal to busy
inner-city workers who do not own cars and for whom grocery
trips are often limited to what they can carry home. Amazon
already operates Prime Fresh, a same-day "fresh produce and
grocery" delivery service.
Wal-Mart said it will charge customers a $7 to $10 delivery
charge for its new delivery service, and will also alert
customers when their order is being delivered.
The largest grocer in the United States is already expanding its
online order options to offer grocery deliveries within two days
for a $49 minimum annual fee. It also comes at a time when
Wal-Mart is betting big on its online grocery pick-up service.
In April, Reuters reported that Wal-Mart was expanding free
curbside pickup of groceries into eight new cities including
Kansas City and Austin. On Thursday, it said it would expand
that service to 14 new markets by late June.
Online groceries are a $10.9 billion industry in the United
States, and the market is expected to grow 9.6 percent annually
through 2019, according to a December report by market research
firm IbisWorld.
One of the largest players in the segment is Amazon, which
delivers groceries in Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, and
northern and southern California.
For Wal-Mart, the move in online grocery follows a $2.7 billion
investment over the past two years boosting worker wages and
training, steps that it hopes will improve its customer service
and help boost sales.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Bentonville, Arkansas and Arathy S
Nair in Bengaluru)
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