According to a news report from CBNC, Walmart is pushing full-speed-ahead with its same-day delivery plans in New York City, and has acquired local startup and delivery tracking app Parcel to make the behind-the-scene logistics work properly.
The Brooklyn-based firm specializes in handling scheduled and same-day deliveries in New York for retailers like Bonobos, as well as meal kit companies like Chef’d and Martha Stewart’s Martha & Marley Spoon. That client list will remain unchanged with the Walmart acquisition.
Walmart will look to leverage the technology and delivery network already developed by Parcel to get a jump on same-day delivery offerings for both the Walmart brand and its Jet.com subsidiary, according to CNBC.
Jet already offers no no-cost, same-day shipping, and Walmart Inc’s hope is use the Parcel acquisition to further bring down overhead costs associated with making deliveries on a dime. The purchase will also buttress Walmart’s recently announced foray into same-day delivery in New York City, a service which is designed to offer same-day package deliveries on both general merchandise and grocery orders.
On the user end, customers and merchants will receive text updates on the progress of deliveries, CNBC reported. Parcel boasts a database of every New York City building to which it has previously delivered — including photos and detailed information on service entrances — making the delivery process as seamless as possible.
“New York City is a really unique and complicated market, and that mastery is really rare,” said Jesse Kaplan, Parcel founder and CEO, in an interview.
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So far, neither entity has reported the purchase price of the acquisition, though anonymous sources told Recode it totaled less than $10 million. The acquisition will include the firm’s CEO, its other six full-time employees and approximately 50 part-time employees who sort and deliver orders.
This latest acquisition is one of several since Walmart snapped up Jet.com for $3 billion last year. In the last 12 months, Walmart has also purchased Bonobos, ModCloth and MooseJaw.
