Walmart Is Expanding Its Grocery Delivery Service to 100 Locations

Walmart is upping their grocery game. In a bid to compete with Amazon, the big box behemoth is expanding its grocery delivery service to over 100 metropolitan areas. That’s a huge increase compared to its current crop of siz cities across the nation.

Here’s how the service will work. Walmart workers will pack orders at their stores and then a third-party delivery company, or a startup like Uber, will ship them. This is a major change compared to the original proposal, which claimed Walmart workers would deliver shipments on their way home from work, without an explanation of how they would be compensated for the additional labor. In terms of price, deliveries will cost $9.95 with a minimum of $30 per order.

Walmart’s pursuit to conquer the home delivery market in recent months has become increasingly aggressive. The retailer claims the service will be rolled out and available to over 40 percent of U.S. households by the end of the year. They also plan to increase their grocery pick-up service as well, nearly doubling the amount of locations from 1,200 to 2,200 by 2019. Walmart will also use Jet.com, an online retailer it acquired in 2016 to offer same-day grocery delivery to New York City residents.

While Amazon has been the primary source of competition, especially since their acquisition of Whole Foods last year, they aren’t Walmart’s only challenger in the grocery arena. Grocery startup Instacart, which offers same-day delivery, recently added Kroger and BJ’s to its roster of clients. Target has also acquired Shipt, a delivery startup, which has helped expand its reach as well.

Of course, you could just go to the supermarket instead of relying on any of these companies to send bread to your doorstep, but it should be interesting to see who wins over most of the delivery market. Let the grocery games begin!

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