Walmart to roll out grocery delivery to 100 metro areas

A month after Amazon offered Prime customers free grocery deliveries from its Whole Foods stores, Walmart has decided to expand its grocery delivery services across the US. On March 14, the retail giant announced it would expand its same-day delivery services to customers — in as little as three hours — in more than 100 metro areas by the end of the year. The company currently offers the service in six metro areas.

It will cost customers a flat fee of $9.95 to have grocery orders worth a minimum of $30 delivered to their homes. More than 18,000 of Walmart’s personal shoppers will pick and pack delivery orders in more than 800 stores, while Uber and other crowdsourced delivery companies will be used to transport groceries.

“We’re saving customers time by leveraging new technology and connecting all the parts of our business into a single seamless shopping experience: great stores, easy pickup, fast delivery and apps and websites that are simple to use,” said Greg Foran, president and CEO, Walmart US. “We’re serving our customers in ways that no one else can. Using our size and scale, we’re bringing the best of Walmart to customers across the country,” Foran said.

“Our commitment goes further than saving customers money,” said Tom Ward, vice president, Digital Operations, Walmart US. “Ninety percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart store, and we serve more than 150 million customers a week, which gives us a unique opportunity to make every day a little easier for busy families. Today, we’re expanding this promise by helping even more customers save time and money without leaving their homes,” Ward said.