Wal-Mart Expands Curbside Grocery Pickup Program

[TheWorldNewsOrg]

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) wants to make shopping for groceries as convenient as possible to give it an edge over, not just Internet-based competitors but traditional grocery stores.

To do that, the retailer has expanded a program that allows customers to order their groceries online and then pick them up curbside at their local Wal-Mart. The company touted the digital-physical hybrid program in a blog post announcing the expansion.

"Whether we're scribbling our shopping lists on scraps of paper or keeping inventory on our phones, many of us find it challenging to add in one critical thing: finding the time to shop," wrote Wal-Mart Global E-Commerce COO Michael Bender. "But what if you could get your grocery shopping done quickly and easily, without having to add more time or take away from other activities that you'd rather spend your time on? That's precisely what we're doing with grocery pickup ... Saving time – and saving money."

How does it work?
The program is being rolled out to 20 new cities and expanded in eight others. Customers simply pick out their items online and then place the order. Once the order is in, the shopper drives to his or her local store to pick it up curbside.

Wal-Mart's customer base appears to like the hybrid model of online ordering and curbside pickup.

"Ninety percent of our customers are repeat users, and more than 90% of our online baskets include fresh grocery items (dairy, produce, or meat)," wrote Bender. "That's exciting, because it means that our personal shoppers -- associates who are carefully selected and highly trained to pick these foods as if they were choosing for their own families -- must be working hard to get things right, while strengthening the trust customers place in us to shop for them."

By any means necessary
Through this program, Wal-Mart is able to bring added convenience to consumers without incurring the expense of home delivery. It's a time-saver for shoppers, and it could be a sales-driver for the company. That's important in a space where Wal-Mart is already one of, if not the, low-cost leader.

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Daniel Kline has no position in any stocks mentioned.

 

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