As millions of Americans continue to find ways to deal with their state’s orders to stay at home, due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, Walmart has launched a new service that may ease some of those shopping pains.
The new service to be provided by Walmart is touted to be offering order deliveries in two hours. Amid the surging demand by homebound consumers to not only get what they need but get it as fast as possible, Walmart hopes the new delivery service will get the job done.
The well-known mass retailer announced its service early in the month. However, it does not come without an additional cost. The new service, referred to as their Express Delivery will cost the customer an additional $10, which will be assessed on top of the current delivery charges of $7.95 to $9.95. For those customers that are members of the Delivery Unlimited service offered by Walmart, the fee will be just an additional $10 flat fee on top of the monthly/annual fees.
There are 160,000 items, such as groceries, toys, and electronics, that will be available under the new Express Delivery service. Testing has been conducted since mid-April in over 100 stores, and in May is expected to expand to 1,000 stores total. In the following weeks, the retailer hopes to offer its Express Service in 2,000 locations nationwide.
In a news release offered by Walmart, chief customer officer Janey Whiteside said: “We know our customers’ lives have changed during this pandemic and so has the way they shop.” Whiteside went on to acknowledge that when the nation comes out of the pandemic, consumers will be busier than they ever have.
Due to this busyness, she feels customers will be calling, needing, and requesting supplies. She stated it is due COVID-19 that Walmart decided to launch its new Express Delivery even faster and sooner than originally planned.
Whiteside stated that customers simply need to navigate to the Walmart website or the Walmart app and enter their ZIP code, and they will be informed if the service is currently offered in their area. Once you have filled your cart, and select the checkout process, the Express Delivery option will be offered. As with general delivery, Express Delivery requires a minimum purchase of $30.
Express Delivery is Walmart’s answer to Amazon Prime Now. Prime Now was launched by Amazon, one of the largest online retailers, in 2014 touting two-hour delivery in select major markets for those are Amazon Prime members.
Will Express Delivery, in fact, rival Amazon in the two-hour delivery arena?