Walmart to Offer Secure 24/7 Contactless Delivery to Florida Customers
Walmart InHome customers serviced by participating Florida stores will be the first to take advantage of HomeValet’s Smart Box and app, following a successful pilot conducted this past May. Those enrolled in the retailer’s growing delivery service in select Sunshine State locations can take advantage of early delivery and a special introductory price during January. The secure, contactless 24/7 delivery solution will roll out more widely in early 2022.
Offering a secure, temperature-controlled and internet-connected outdoor receptacle, the Smart Box enables unattended delivery of fresh groceries and packages directly to consumers’ front doors. With HomeValet’s mobile app and subscription service, consumers will be able to conveniently customize, manage, monitor and remotely control their Smart Boxes for delivery anytime.
“The rapidly maturing e-commerce market exposed a vital need for increased package security and food safety in supply chain ‘last-mile’ delivery to consumer homes, which HomeValet is designed to solve,” said John Simms, founder and CEO of Tysons Corner, Va.-based HomeValet. “By connecting consumers, retailers and couriers to a secure end point outside consumers’ homes, we enable automated delivery of packages, groceries and other goods; reduce consumers’ time burdens of home delivery; and offer convenience and freedom, avoidance of logistics issues, and capture large-scale efficiencies, improving the home delivery experience for consumers and retailers.”
HomeValet’s Smart Boxes can now be pre-ordered on the company’s website with an initial down payment of $50 to reserve them. Smart Box pricing varies by design, with a range of customizable styles available and financing options provided via Affirm. The app, which enables users to monitor Smart Box deliveries as well as control the temperature of items, is also currently downloadable in the App Store and Google Play Store for a monthly subscription of $15 per month.
“The adoption of the HomeValet Smart Box will create a whole new category within the home appliance industry, which hasn’t changed much since the introduction of the microwave in the 1970s,” said Jack Simms, HomeValet’s co-founder and COO. “More importantly, HomeValet-powered, IoT-connected Smart Boxes will put the control in consumers’ hands, so home delivery is designed for the convenience of shoppers, not just retailers.”
According to a spokeswoman for HomeValet, InHome customers in Boynton Beach, Coconut Creek, Lake Park, Palm Springs, Port St. Lucie, Sebastian, Stuart, Vero Beach and West Palm Beach will receive early access to the Smart Box.
Earlier this month, Walmart revealed plans to grow its InHome delivery service, which brings orders directly into customers’ kitchens or garages, from 6 million U.S. households to 30 million by the end of 2022, in furtherance of which the retailer would hire more than 3,000 associate delivery drivers this year and build out a fleet of 100% all-electric delivery vans.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart operates approximately 10,500 stores under 48 banners in 24 countries, and e-commerce websites, employing 2.2 million-plus associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, PG’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
