How Walmart Is Making Delivery Even Faster
Just in time for the busy holiday season, Walmart has introduced parcel stations within its in-store delivery hubs that promise to help move goods even faster. The retailer currently has 4,000 stores operating as delivery hubs that fulfill and deliver a variety of order types, and it plans to have 40 parcel stations up and running by the end of the year.
Jennifer McKeehan, SVP, transportation and delivery for Walmart U.S., explained in a company blog post that packages originate in the retailer’s fulfillment centers and move to a sortation center, or directly to stores, where they are then delivered to a customer’s home using Walmart’s last-mile delivery network. The new parcel stations will allow Walmart’s private fleet to transport even more online orders.
According to McKeehan, both customers and associates will see the benefits of the new parcel stations.
“For customers, parcel stations give them more time to place online orders on a greater assortment of merchandise for Next Day Delivery,” McKeehan wrote. “For associates, we’re making it easier and more efficient to distribute online orders from stores. Collectively, the entire process builds density to lower the cost of delivery, which we can reinvest back into the customer experience.”
Walmart plans to expand the new capability to additional locations in the new year, and McKeehan says the company is looking forward to customer feedback regarding the new service.
Meanwhile, Walmart has embarked on a joint project with enterprise retail technology solution provider Bamboo Rose to develop and implement a state-of-the-art enterprise sourcing platform (ESP) that will change the way the retailer does business with its many suppliers around the world. The technology will unite disparate systems, improving efficiencies and helping Walmart adhere to its mission of everyday low prices.
Each week, approximately 230 million customers and members visit Walmart’s more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites under 46 banners in 24 countries. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company employs approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Walmart one of its Retailers of the Century.
