With the objective of directly challenging its competitor, Amazon, Walmart made an announcement that it is dropping the $35 minimum order requirement for its two-hour “Express” delivery service, a competitor to Amazon’s “Prime Now.” With Walmart Express Delivery, customers can order from Walmart’s food, consumables, or general merchandise assortment, then pay a flat $10 fee to have the items arrive in two hours or less.
This service is useful for more urgent delivery requirements, for example, diapers or a missing ingredient for a recipe. “Customers told us sometimes the items they needed in a hurry didn’t meet the minimum, so we’re removing it, making it even easier for customers to get what they need when they need it,” said Walmart Senior Vice President of Customer Product Tom Ward.
The express delivery provided by the retailer will enable customers to place website orders for food, staples, essentials, and more. These orders are then packed for delivery by Walmart’s team of 1,70,000 for personal shoppers and are priced at the same amount as they are in-store. This gives Walmart a competitive advantage against other grocery delivery services like Instacart or Shipt since these are platforms where products can be priced higher and hurried or inexperienced shoppers aren’t always able to find items or search the back, having to mark them as “out of stock.”
Moreover, Walmart employees will have a better understanding of their own store’s inventory and layout, making these kinds of issues less common. It will also have direct access to the order data, which will help it better understand what sells, what replacements customers will accept for out-of-stocks when to staff for busy times, and more.
The express delivery option is available at about 3,000 Walmart stores, reaching almost 70 percent of the U.S. population, the company said. Walmart also offers free curbside pickup and serves approximately 220 million customers and members at 10,500 stores and clubs under 48 brands in 24 countries and e-commerce websites.
Walmart’s competition, Prime Now currently has a s 2-hour service has a minimum order requirement of $35 without any additional fees in many cases for free delivery– through the Prime Now app explains that some of its local store partners will charge fees even when that minimum is met, and others may have higher-order minimums, which makes the service confusing to consumers.
