Walmart will test food deliveries to customer homes

Walmart already throws food at customers’ doors and, in some cities, puts it directly in the refrigerator. The company said on Tuesday it would soon test another convenient approach: deliveries to a smart cooler on customers’ porches or near their doorstep.

Starting in the spring, the retailer has said it will launch a pilot in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. It will provide participating customers with a smart temperature-controlled cooler called HomeValet. The cooler will be placed outside their home, allowing safe and non-contact food deliveries non-stop.

“The prospect of this technology is exciting for both customers and Walmart’s last-mile delivery efforts,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president of customer products for the United States, in a post on the company’s website. . “For customers, they don’t have to plan the day the food will be delivered. For Walmart, it offers an opportunity to deliver items 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

He said the retailer does not yet have plans for 24-7 deliveries, however.

Walmart is the largest grocery store in the United States and has made free, unlimited food deliveries a central advantage of its new subscription-based service, Walmart +. The service, launched in September, costs money $ 98 per year or $ 12.95 per month, compared to Amazon Prime, which costs $ 119 per year or $ 12.99 per month. It includes other benefits, such as fuel savings and access to a smartphone app that allows shoppers to cross the payline.

The retail giant launched its food delivery service in 2018. During the pandemic, Walmart and other retailers saw that online food shopping is gaining popularity as customers look for convenient and contactless ways to store pantries and refrigerators from home deliveries through last mile services. such as Instacart to pick up outside of a retailer’s store.

Even before the global health crisis, Walmart experimented with new food delivery options. In 2019, it launched a membership program called InHome Food Delivery in Certain Cities, which puts fresh fruit, meat and other food directly into customers’ refrigerators for $ 19.95 per month. Requires additional security measures, including a smart door lock kit or a smart garage door kit at buyers’ homes and a background check and additional training for employees.

The service still operates in certain cities: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Vero Beach, Florida and West Palm Beach, Florida. During the pandemic, the company changed its approach to local restrictions, a company spokeswoman said: it only makes kitchen deliveries in Pittsburgh. In other cities, place objects right in front of houses or inside garages.

With the new HomeValet pilot, food will be left in rectangular coolers developed by a start-up. They have three areas that can accommodate food at different temperatures, including frozen, refrigerated or stored at room temperature as in a pantry. To make a delivery, a Walmart employee can use a device to lock and unlock the smart cooler.