Walmart is testing a program to store third-party marketplace merchandise in the backrooms of select supercenters, allowing the items to be delivered at the same speeds as locally stocked groceries and apparel. Typically, items sold by third-party sellers on its marketplace are stored and shipped from Walmart fulfillment centers, which have not offered the same delivery speed advantages as items coming from its 4,600 local retail stores. The pilot is currently underway in several stores in Dallas, TX.
The strategy also ties into two other projects that Walmart has been working on in recent years, including:
- Redesigning its stores with larger e-commerce fulfillment spaces, widened aisles, enhanced signage, and expanded self-checkout zones, among other things.
- Automating its supply chains, such as with AI-powered warehouses that sort items before they are shipped to a store, allowing pallets of products to go straight from the truck to the shelf for restocking.
Business Insider's Dominick Reuter notes that Amazon and Walmart have been busy in recent years actively encroaching on each other's territories, with Amazon embracing brick-and-mortar retail and Walmart finally taking e-commerce seriously. Now, Reuter says, “both are branching out after conquering their own games.”
While Amazon has been piloting supercenter-style warehouse-and-store combinations and pushing hard into rural communities with new local facilities, Walmart has been using its local retail footprint to complement its e-commerce ambitions, as well as building out its own logistics network to offer ultrafast delivery across the country.
Reuter says “the race is on to see if Walmart can become Amazon before Amazon becomes Walmart.”
Target was not mentioned in the article. LOL.