Walmart is expanding its grocery-delivery service with a last-mile pilot it calls Spark Delivery.
The company says the pilot will help management learn more about the entire last-mile delivery process and to offer services more efficiently. Spark Delivery employs an in-house platform that offers delivery drivers scheduling flexiblility, enables them to manage order details and provides navigation assistance, among other benefits.
Walmart calls its team of personal shoppers an important component of the overall process, as they cull the merchandise for customer orders. Spark Delivery engages the services of independent drivers who contract with Delivery Drivers, a nationwide firm specializing in last-mile delivery services.
“We’re saving customers time by leveraging new technology and connecting all the parts of our business into a single seamless shopping experience: great stores, easy pickup, fast delivery, and apps and websites that are simple to use,” said Greg Foran, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., in a press release. “We’re serving our customers in ways that no one else can. Using our size and scale, we’re bringing the best of Walmart to customers across the country. Spark Delivery is one way we’re exploring how to get quality groceries from our door to our customers’ doors.”
Delivery Drivers manages the recruiting, screening and background checks of the drivers, as well as handling the related payment and accounting needs on the driver side. The drivers are paid per delivery. The firm also furnishes its drivers with such services and benefits as assistance in understanding order flow, group discounts and an entrepreneurial program to help them establish their own small businesses.
“It is important to us at DDI that we help each independent driver run their transportation business correctly,” said Aaron Hageman, CEO of Delivery Drivers. “We are excited to partner with Walmart to allow them to focus on providing great products while we can build and support a professional-driver network to focus on the delivery side of the business.”
Combined with third-party crowd-sourced delivery providers, Walmart is well on its way to bringing grocery delivery to about 100 metro areas that comprise roughly 40 percent of U.S. households. Today the delivery service is available in nearly 50 markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Miami and Seattle. Walmart’s work with third-party delivery providers remains a leading part of delivery strategy.
“Our customers love grocery pickup and delivery — it offers convenience paired with the everyday low prices customers expect from us”
Spark Delivery is currently being tested in Nashville and New Orleans, with plans for a few more metro areas this year.
“Our customers love grocery pickup and delivery — it offers convenience paired with the everyday low prices customers expect from us,” said Tom Ward, vice president of digital operations at Walmart U.S. “We’re always looking for the best ways to serve them, so we’re exploring a number of different options for getting groceries from our stores to the customer’s front door — some in-house, some third-party.”
Walmart also offers an online grocery-pickup service that enables customers to pick up at stores without even having to get out of their cars. That service is available at about 1,800 stores currently, and the company is looking to raise that to 2,100 by the end of the year.
Walmart employs about 25,000 personal shoppers, up from 18,000 earlier this year, and thousands more continue to be added. These associates complete a three-week training program to learn how to select fresh produce and cuts of meat for the online grocery customers.
Groceries can arrive at the customer's door as soon as the same day. There is a $9.95 fee and a $30 minimum order size, with no subscriptions and no price markups.
By Brannon Boswell
Executive Editor, Commerce + Communities Today
