Walmart to expand grocery delivery from 6 markets to over 100 by year-end

Walmart to expand grocery delivery from 6 markets to over 100 by year-end (Source TechCrunch)

Walmart announced that it will expand its online grocery delivery service to more than 40 percent of U.S. households by year-end, growing from its current availability in just six markets to over 100 metro areas during that time. That means it will be making deliveries from 800 stores in total. The news is the latest salvo in Walmart’s quickly escalating war with Amazon, which just last month announced Whole Foods grocery delivery was available via Prime Now.

But unlike with Prime Now, ordering groceries online from Walmart doesn’t require a subscription of any kind – only a minimum order of $30. Customers place their orders via Walmart’s dedicated website, walmart.com/grocery, or the standalone Walmart Grocery app. At checkout, they select the window when they want to pick up their groceries curbside, or have them delivered – sometimes as soon as same-day. Curbside pickup is free, while delivery costs an additional flat fee of $9.95. The grocery service tends to be more affordable than rivals, which is perhaps Walmart’s key advantage in this space. Whole Foods, for example, was known for being notoriously expensive – it was even dubbed “Whole Paycheck” as a joke. And recent reports indicate that, despite Amazon’s price cuts, some items have been creeping back up in price again. Meanwhile, unlike grocery delivery services such as Instacart and Shipt (the latter which was recently acquired by Target for $550 million), Walmart doesn’t mark up the cost of groceries sold online. They’re the same price as in Walmart stores

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