Aiming to get a leg up on the competition – namely Amazon – Walmart is rolling out free same-day delivery for shoppers residing in the New York City area, according to a Bloomberg news report.
During an event in New York covered by Bloomberg, Marc Lore, chief executive officer of Walmart eCommerce in the U.S., said the service will be provided by its Jet.com unit. “In the New York surrounding area, Jet.com right now is offering free, same-day delivery,” Lore said at the conference, reported Bloomberg. “And we’ll be doing the same with Walmart very soon.”
According to the report, Walmart and Jet have offered free two-day shipping for purchases of more than $35 for some time now. The two-day shipping was designed to stop Amazon in its tracks, but now it’s trying something new.
Target already offers same-day delivery for purchases consumers make in-store in the New York City area, but charges a fee for the service. It’s gearing up to expand into more cities, noted Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Best Buy has broadened its same-day shipping service, which expanded from 13 cities to 27. The company initially launched its same-day delivery service in the San Francisco Bay area nearly two years ago, and expanded in 2016 to Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York. In September, Best Buy said the new cities getting same-day delivery would include San Diego, Charlotte, Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul, among others. The company is also cutting the same-day delivery fee from $14.99 to just $5.99, and a third-party service will handle the delivery portion of the program. By the time this year’s holiday shopping season begins, the same-day delivery service is expected to be available in nearly 40 cities.
This isn’t the first time Walmart has toyed with same-day delivery. Back in October of 2012, it began testing same-day delivery for purchases made online in a few cities across America. At the time, The New York Times reported that the first retailer that could control same-day delivery will win big time in the marketplace. But five years later, it appears Amazon – not Walmart – is winning on the delivery front.
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