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Walmart to bring two-hour Express Delivery to 2,000 stores

Launch of new service expedited to help customers during pandemic

Russell Redman

May 1, 2020

3 Min Read
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Walmart Express Delivery leverages the retailer's team of 74,000 personal shoppers — including additional shoppers hired specifically for the new service — to pick customers’ orders.Walmart

Following a recent pilot program, Walmart is rolling out Express Delivery, a new online service offering home delivery of a wide range of groceries and other products from the store in less than two hours.

Walmart said Friday that it has been testing Express Delivery at 100 stores since mid-April, accelerating development of the service because of the coronavirus pandemic. Plans call for the fee-based service to reach nearly 1,000 stores in early May and then almost 2,000 stores in the ensuing weeks.

Through Express Delivery, customers can use the Walmart mobile app or go online to walmart.com/grocery to order from a selection of more than 160,000 items, including food, groceries, daily essentials and other consumables as well as general merchandise, toys and electronics. And like Walmart’s other pickup and delivery offerings, Express Delivery provides no-contact service, the company noted.

“We know our customers’ lives have changed during this pandemic, and so has the way they shop,” Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer at Walmart, said in a statement. “We also know when we come out of this, customers will be busier than ever, and sometimes that will call for needing supplies in a hurry. COVID-19 has prompted us to launch Express Delivery even faster so that we’re here for our customers today and in the future.”

Related:Walmart looks to expand pickup payment for SNAP customers

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Plans call for Walmart Express Delivery to reach nearly 1,000 stores in early May and then almost 2,000 stores in the following weeks.

Walmart said Express Delivery leverages its team of 74,000 personal shoppers — including additional shoppers hired specifically for the new service — to pick customers’ orders. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer added that it will tap its current roster of delivery providers to bring orders from a store to customers’ doors.

According to Tom Ward, senior vice president of customer product at Walmart, Express Delivery expands the availability of pickup and delivery slots, giving customers more flexibility to shop when and how they want.

“We have an opportunity to serve our customers no matter what life calls for,” Ward explained. “Whether it be a last-minute ingredient, medicine when a fever hits or the item you didn’t know you needed when checking off your chore list, time matters. Express is a solve for that.”

To use Express Delivery, customers go to walmart.com/grocery or use the Walmart app and search their ZIP code to see if the service is offered in their area. They then begin filling their virtual cart, aided by a search feature at the top of the screen makes it easier to find the exact items they need, Walmart said. At checkout, customers select Express Delivery and then pay for their order. A delivery driver picks the order up at the store and delivers it the customer within two hours.

Related:Walmart integrates online grocery into flagship mobile app

Express Delivery carries a $10 fee in addition to the existing delivery charge, Walmart said. Customers enrolled in the Walmart Delivery Unlimited service pay just the $10 fee for Express Delivery.

Walmart added that, like its other online pickup and delivery services, Express Delivery has no markup on products, which are priced the same as in stores.

For our most up-to-date coverage, visit the coronavirus homepage.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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