Walmart GoLocal’s delivery-as-a-service (DaaS) model provides businesses of all sizes with Walmart's delivery capabilities, including delivery on a range of assortments and flexibility to meet varying shipping timelines (including shipping within two hours as well as a two-day delivery option) with additional "innovative offerings" rolling out in the future, said the retailer.
“In an era where customers have come to expect speed and reliability, it’s more important than ever for businesses to work with a service provider that understands a merchant’s needs,” said John Furner, president and CEO, Walmart US, adding that Walmart has spent years building and scaling commerce capabilities that support its network of more than 4,700 stores using its existing delivery network, which includes drones, autonomous vehicles, and market fulfillment centers.
“We look forward to helping other businesses have access to the same reliable, quality and low-cost services,” Furner added.
Walmart has spent several years building and scaling its e-commerce business and has launched and scaled delivery and Express delivery offerings for its customers on 160,000+ items from more than 3,000 stores, reaching nearly 70% of the US population with its diverse delivery network.
“We’ve worked hard to develop a reliable last mile delivery program for our customers… we’ve designed Walmart GoLocal to be customizable for merchants of all sizes and categories so they can focus on doing what they do best, leaving delivery speed and efficiency to us,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president, last mile, Walmart US.
The Walmart GoLocal business will serve as an important part of the company’s overall growth strategy, which includes diversifying its revenue streams and profit pools, said the retailer.
Walmart grew total US revenues 5.3% to $98.2bn in Q2 2021 compared to the same quarter last year and US e-commerce sales were up 6% year-over-year and 103% on a two-year stack basis.
Walmart said that it has entered into contract agreements with national and enterprise retail clients and is currently accepting new merchant partners. Walmart GoLocal will begin shipping by the end of 2021, according to the company.
Mercatus: ‘This is a smart strategic play on Walmart’s part’
Walmart is the world’s largest retailer, generating over $120.13bn in revenue, according to National Retail Federation data -- Amazon sits at $74bn in international revenues -- and the move to white label its delivery platform to third-party businesses will elevate its position in marketplace fulfillment, according to grocery e-commerce solutions provider Mercatus.
Sylvain Perrier, president and CEO of Mercatus, said: “We can’t see any grocery retailer taking Walmart up on this – it’s too big of a risk to give up data and customers to the retail giant.
"However, this is a smart strategic play on Walmart’s part. Acting as a delivery partner allows Walmart to leverage its own infrastructure and at the same time put a firewall up against the Amazon, other marketplace providers, and D2C players using Shopify. By acting as a third-party partner, Walmart will be able to gain visibility into a wide range of delivery orders outside of the Walmart ecosystem that would’ve gone to other carriers.
“In the end, the delivery partner best positioned to aggregate orders and use other revenue to bear the cost of fulfillment will come out on top; and as of right now, we predict that will be Walmart.”
