Walmart to test grocery deliveries to customers’ homes

Walmart already drops groceries at customers’ doors and in some cities, it puts them right inside their refrigerator. The company announced Tuesday that it will soon be testing another convenient approach: smart cooler deliveries on customers’ porches or near their doorsteps.

Starting in the spring, the big box retailer announced it would launch a pilot in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. It will provide participating customers with a temperature-controlled smart cooler called HomeValet. The cooler will be placed outside their home, allowing secure, 24-hour contactless grocery deliveries.

“The prospect of this technology is intriguing, both for customers and for Walmart’s last mile delivery efforts,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president of customer products at Walmart in the United States, in a post on the company website. “For customers, they don’t need to plan their day around delivering their groceries. For Walmart, this represents an opportunity to deliver items 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

However, he said the retailer does not yet have plans for 24/7 deliveries.

Walmart is the largest grocer in the United States and has made free, unlimited grocery deliveries a central benefit of its new subscription service, Walmart +. The service, launched in September, costs $ 98 per year or $ 12.95 per month compared to Amazon Prime, which costs $ 119 per year or $ 12.99 per month. It includes other perks, such as fuel discounts and access to a smartphone app that lets shoppers skip the line.

The retail giant launched its grocery delivery service in 2018. During the pandemic, Walmart and other retailers saw online grocery shopping rise in popularity, with customers looking for convenient, contactless ways to store their pantries and refrigerators from home deliveries via last mile services. like Instacart for curbside pickup outside a retailer’s store.

Even before the global health crisis, Walmart experimented with new grocery delivery options. In 2019, it launched a membership program called InHome Grocery Delivery in select cities, which puts fresh fruit, meat, and other groceries directly into customers’ refrigerators for $ 19.95 per. month. This requires additional security measures including a smart door lock kit or smart garage door kit from buyers, background check, and additional training for employees.

The service is still operational in some cities: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Vero Beach, Florida and West Palm Beach, Florida. During the pandemic, the company changed its approach to comply with local restrictions, a company spokeswoman said: It only makes kitchen deliveries in Pittsburgh. In other cities, he places items just inside the door of houses or inside garages.

With the new HomeValet pilot, the races will be left in rectangular coolers developed by a start-up. They have three zones that can hold groceries at different temperatures, including frozen, refrigerated, or kept at room temperature like in a pantry. To make a delivery, a Walmart employee can use a device to lock and unlock the smart cooler.