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Walmart kicks off delivery service for other businesses

Walmart GoLocal leverages retail giant’s e-commerce technology, expertise

Russell Redman

August 24, 2021

3 Min Read
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Walmart GoLocal provides API integration with the customer’s e-commerce front end and a delivery platform, with the service bearing the business' brand.Walmart

Walmart has launched a white-label “delivery as a service” that offers its e-commerce and logistics capabilities to other businesses, including small to large retailers.

Called Walmart GoLocal, the solution provides API integration with the business customer’s e-commerce front end and a platform for express, scheduled and unscheduled deliveries, with the service bearing the retailer’s brand, Walmart said Tuesday.

Potential GoLocal users include companies seeking peer-to-peer delivery, small businesses and leading national retailers, according to Walmart. Products that can be delivered run the gamut of consumer goods, from groceries and general merchandise to oversize items and offerings with complex requirements, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant said.

“We’ve worked hard to develop a reliable last-mile delivery program for our customers,” Tom Ward, senior vice president of last mile at Walmart U.S., said in a statement. “Now we’re pleased to be able to use these capabilities to serve another set of customers: local merchants. Be it delivering goods from a local bakery to auto supplies from a national retailer, we’ve designed Walmart GoLocal to be customizable for merchants of all sizes and categories so they can focus on doing what they do best, leaving delivery speed and efficiency to us.”

Related:Walmart offers its e-commerce know-how to other retailers

Walmart GoLocal works as follows: Consumers place orders with participating businesses, their e-commerce platforms “ping” the GoLocal platform and drivers are dispatched for delivery. Feedback on the delivery experience also is captured. For the deliveries, GoLocal distributes orders to third-party service providers via Walmart’s Spark Driver program, available in more than 600 cities. Drivers receive orders through the Spark Driver App and then complete the deliveries.

Walmart said it already has entered GoLocal contractual agreements with “a number of” national and enterprise retail clients and is accepting new merchant partners. Plans also call for GoLocal to expand its roster of offerings.

“In an era where customers have come to expect speed and reliability, it’s more important than ever for businesses to work with a service provider that understands a merchant’s needs,” stated John Furner, Walmart U.S. president and CEO.

Walmart_GoLocal_website.png

Walmart said it already has landed GoLocal contracts with 'a number of' national and enterprise retail clients.

In launching GoLocal, Walmart cited its e-commerce innovation and track record of executing delivery services at scale with efficiency. The company noted that in three years it rolled out and scaled delivery and Express delivery for customers on over 160,000 items from more than 3,000 stores, covering almost 70% of the U.S. population and extending the reach delivery network via drones, autonomous vehicles and market fulfillment centers.

Related:Walmart kicks off automation of 25 regional distribution centers

Walmart GoLocal’s debut just under a month after Walmart unveiled plans to provide e-commerce technology, logistics and related services to other businesses seeking solutions to spur digital commerce. That includes a partnership with Adobe to integrate the Walmart Marketplace third-party retailer e-commerce program, in-store fulfillment and pickup technologies with the Adobe Commerce platform.

The GoLocal service also dovetails with Walmart’s strategy to diversify its revenue streams and profit pools through initiatives such as Walmart Connect and Walmart Fulfillment Services.

“Walmart has spent years building and scaling commerce capabilities that support our network of more than 4,700 stores,” Furner added, “and we look forward to helping other businesses have access to the same reliable, quality and low-cost services.”

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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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