Dive Brief:
- As competition from rival retailers like Target and Amazon heats up, Walmart is offering on-demand deliveries starting at 6 a.m., the retail giant announced Thursday.
- Walmart customers can order products such as baby items, home appliances and work clothes to be delivered in as soon as 30 minutes with Express On-Demand Early Morning Delivery. The company said it will also begin delivering live bait in mid-March from more than 3,000 locations.
- Shoppers can access the service through the company’s app or website, and for Walmart+ members standard delivery is free.
Dive Insight:
The introduction of early morning delivery builds upon established Walmart services including curbside pickup, late-night express delivery and on-demand delivery.
Walmart extended its Express Delivery service hours last September, enabling customers who place orders by 9:30 p.m. to receive their orders by 10 p.m. It also began testing its Live Shopper feature in May, which allows customers to modify their orders last minute and communicate with the order picker in real time.
“As we continue to innovate and accelerate, the message is clear: Shopping should be personal and as tailored to fit your lifestyle as those freshly delivered work shirts,” the company wrote in its Thursday announcement. “With Walmart’s On-Demand Early Morning Delivery and a suite of other convenient options, we’re making sure you have what you need, when you need it, so you can reclaim your time no matter what the clock says.”
Meanwhile, other major retailers are vying for a share of customers seeking swift deliveries. Earlier this week, Target said next month it will introduce Target Circle 360, a membership program providing unlimited free same-day deliveries for orders of $35 or more, along with free two-day shipping. As part of a launch promotion, the service will cost $49 for the first year for non-Target Circle Card cardholders until May 18, then $99 annually. For Target Circle cardholders, the annual cost will be $49. By comparison, Walmart+ launched in 2020 at $98 annually, and Amazon Prime costs $139 annually after the company raised the price in 2022.
Behind the scenes, Walmart has been working to cut delivery costs.The company has lowered the cost of making last-mile deliveries from its stores to customers’ homes by about 20% over the past year, according to EVP and CFO John David Rainey. “As we have more customers coming to us, using us through e-commerce channels, it enables us to spread that cost of delivery over multiple customers,” Rainey said on a February earnings call with analysts.
