Walmart Expands Grocery Delivery, Eyes 40 Pct Of Households

Walmart announced it is now offering grocery delivery in 50 metro areas across the United States.

“When it comes to grocery delivery, we’ve got our foot on the gas,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Combined with third-party crowd-sourced delivery providers, we are well on our way to bringing grocery delivery to 100 metro areas, covering 40 percent of U.S. households. We officially launched our 50th grocery delivery metro area earlier this month in Akron, Ohio — and we have more locations on the way.”

In addition, on Sept. 20, the retail giant began receiving orders at its 2,000th grocery pickup location in Fayetteville, Arkansas. At the end of this fiscal year, it expects to have 2,140 access points in 430 markets, covering 69 percent of all households in the U.S.

To fulfill all those orders in a timely manner, Walmart announced last month that it will be testing robots to help it complete online grocery orders quicker. Walmart is also collaborating with startup Alert Innovation to launch a pilot using the automated robot, called Alphabot.

“Our online grocery service is already a huge hit with customers, allowing them to quickly and conveniently order groceries online, select a pickup time and have those groceries delivered to their car in minutes,” the company said in a press release. “Alphabot will work behind the scenes to make the process even easier, by automatically bringing items from storage to associates who will consolidate the items in the order. For our pickup associates, that means less time walking the store aisles in search of products and more time ensuring customers are getting the absolute best in fresh produce, meats, etc.”

In April, Walmart teamed up with Postmates to expand the company’s online grocery delivery option.

“Both Walmart and Postmates strive to make the lives of our customers easier,” said Dan Mosher, SVP merchant lead of Postmates, at the time. “With our growing fleet of 160,000 couriers, we are confident that we’ll be providing Walmart customers with the ultimate convenience.”