Walmart (WMT. US) expands InHome delivery service to 30 million U.S. households

The Zhitong Finance APP learned that on Wednesday, Walmart (WMT. US) announced plans to expand its U.S. InHome delivery service from 6 million to 30 million by the end of the year. Walmart is expanding InHome delivery as the line between Insider Intelligence's estimated $93 billion grocery delivery market and Coresight Research's estimated $25 billion fast commerce market, which includes DoorDash and others, is increasingly blurred. Walmart's InHome service costs $19.95 per month at no additional cost, as part of the "delivery-as-a-service" trend.

In contrast, Amazon (AMZN. US) Amazon Fresh Grocery Delivery is Prime's free service for $14.99 per month; Instacart Express costs $9.99 per month for free shipping on orders over $35 for lower service fees; U.S. food delivery company Doordash launched the "DashPass" service, which costs $9.99 per month and requires an amount of $12 or more per order. DoorDash also delivers goods from retailers such as 7-11 and CVS.

Walmart said it will hire 3,000 people to support the expansion of its InHome service, providing them with online and offline training. Their salaries will be about 9 percent higher than Walmart's average $16.40 an hour in the U.S. Walmart's 3,700 stores will be used as fulfillment centers.

InHome allows Camera-wearing Walmart employees to enter customers' homes to ship groceries and other merchandise or collect returns, even when the customer is not on site. As you can see from the demo, the InHome service process begins with the delivery man installing the wearable camera. Each delivery step can be viewed in real time on the Walmart app or as a video. The delivery man put a protective case on his shoes and then entered the home with a Walmart smart lock that opened the customer's front door and put the ordered items into a plastic box. The delivery man places items on the refrigerator and counter as requested and wipes all surfaces with disinfectant wipes before leaving. InHome delivery workers will drive electric vehicles as part of the company's goal of achieving a zero-emission logistics fleet by 2040.

"Now you can sit at home and get great convenience, with delivery people coming to your door to replenish your refrigerator, and other items such as video games, clothes, toiletries and other non-perishable items can be placed on the countertop as required." Tom Ward, Walmart's senior vice president of last-mile delivery, said: "If you start the process on the app, in addition to delivery, we can collect your return, and we will pick up the returned item the next day and process the return for you." ”

Walmart uses the daily basic high-frequency repeat consumer goods category to drive online sales growth, for example, when customers replenish refrigerators through Walmart, such as buying a gallon of milk or dinner ingredients, Walmart encourages customers to buy other goods such as clothing, electronics, etc. by providing them with convenient shopping methods. Walmart is currently the largest retail store in the United States, and according to statistics, for every four dollars that Americans spend on "mail-to-home" services in 2021, one dollar will go to Walmart.