Walmart is starting a last-mile delivery service and plans to use the effort to further push into drone and autonomous vehicle delivery.
Called Walmart GoLocal, the service connects retail customers with a non-Walmart-branded delivery drivers.
“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,” Walmart US President and CEO John Furner said. “Walmart has spent years building and scaling commerce capabilities that support our network of more than 4,700 stores, and we look forward to helping other businesses have access to the same reliable, quality and low-cost services.”
Over the last several years, Walmart has invested heavily in building out a local delivery network. The company now has a delivery network that reaches 70% of the U.S. population. The white-label delivery service lets businesses grow using Walmart’s delivery capabilities and nationwide coverage. This includes delivering a range of items, such as those with size and complex requirements.
“We’ve worked hard to develop a reliable last-mile delivery program for our customers,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president, last mile, Walmart U.S. “Now, we’re pleased to be able to use these capabilities to serve another set of customers, local merchants. Be it delivering goods from a local bakery to auto supplies from a national retailer, 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.”
Walmart has invested in drone and autonomous vehicle companies and believes the technologies can help the company create an efficient last-mile network.
“We have moved past experiments in these spaces,” Ward said. “We are truly trying to understand how to scale this kind of technology.”
Amazon tried offering local delivery but folded the service in 2021.
