Walmart To Initiate Pilot Online Grocery Delivery Service With Uber and Lyft

Walmart Stores Inc., the multinational chain hypermarket in the US is going to introduce grocery delivery service through Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. The service will be offered under a pilot program as part of the US retailing giant’s intensified efforts in competing with industry rival Amazon.com Inc.

Doug McMilon, the Walmart CEO is scheduled to announce the partnership during the company’s shareholder meeting on June 3. The chain of discount departmental stores predicts for initiation of trial within the next two weeks through a blog post. Notably mentioning, it has already introduced online grocery delivery services from 13 markets, reports BBC.

The arena of grocery delivery services has been witnessing immense competition during the recent days. Dozens of startups like Instacart Inc. and DoorDash Inc., the U.S. Postal Service, Uber and Amazon have been competing for stakes with retailers, restaurants and grocery stores to bring goods to people’s homes.

Consumers will be able to place orders for groceries online under the pilot program. Walmart employees will pack the merchandise as per consumers’ demand. Drivers from Uber or Lyft, hailed by Walmart will deliver the package to the customer destination.

To enjoy the service, consumers will have to pay $7 to $10 per package. Walmart will realize the charge directly from consumers while charging no commission from the drivers, according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal.

The largest chain of grocery stores in the US has already initiated strengthening its online order feature with offer for grocery delivery within 48 hours against a minimum fee of $49 per year. In addition to that, Walmart has also started expanding picking up groceries in eight new cities including Kansas City and Austin since April. However, Reuters reports for expanding the service of the chain discount stores to 14 new markets though BBC claims the number for 13.

Walmart has declined to disclose the reason for working with rival delivery companies in the home delivery scheme. The last-mile delivery service will enable the chain hypermarket to gain customer satisfaction through adopting their guided measures, informs Michael Bender chief operating officer of Walmart Global eCommerce.

The chain retailer has been spending $2 billion for the last two years in a view to increase ecommerce sales while competing with Amazon. The latter has also been expanding its grocery delivery service through introducing AmazonFresh.

A study report from market research firm IbisWorld suggests that ecommerce is now a industry of $10.9 billion in the US. The industry has been growing at am annual rate of 9.6%. IbisWorld predicts, the growth will continue until 2019.