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Yahoo Mail users can buy ‘Groceries from Walmart’ right from inbox

Verizon Media says new e-commerce service marks an industry first

Russell Redman

July 20, 2020

3 Min Read
Walmart-Grocery_Pickup-sign.jpg
'Groceries from Walmart' service marks the first time that an email provider allows users to fill a shopping cart straight from their email inbox, according to Verizon Media, which owns Yahoo Mail.Walmart

Verizon Media has launched an online grocery service that enables Yahoo Mail users to make Walmart purchases directly from their inbox.

Called “Groceries from Walmart,” the service marks the first time that an email provider allows users to fill a shopping cart straight from their email inbox, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Verizon Media said Monday. Verizon acquired Yahoo in a $4.5 billion deal that closed in June 2017.

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To access Groceries from Walmart, consumers download the Yahoo Mail iOS mobile or desktop app (an Android version is due out later this year) or sign up for Yahoo Mail at mail.yahoo.com. Users will get personalized grocery recommendations from Walmart based on their Yahoo profiles. Clicking on the emails they receive in their inbox, consumer can browse grocery items, add them to their cart and complete the transactions with Walmart within Yahoo Mail.

Verizon noted that the service streamlines the shopping experience by enabling Yahoo Mail users to make grocery purchases from Walmart, the world’s largest grocery retailer, within the mail app they use daily to track promotions, coupons and other functions. In addition, the shopping cart never expires, allow consumers to keep adding items throughout the week and check out whenever they’re ready.

Related:Is the new online grocery shopper here to stay?

“Customers are leaning on Walmart more than ever for us to help them save on items they need the most, but also to help save them time,” Rich Lehrfeld, senior vice president of Walmart Marketing, said in a statement. “The new Groceries from Walmart feature that lives within Yahoo Mail takes one more step out of our customers’ days, helping them shop when, how and where they want.”

Last year, Yahoo Mail rolled out a new app with Grocery View, a new tool that shows users deals at local grocery stores. Yahoo Mail users can save the deals to their shopping lists plus connect their store loyalty card to automatically apply the saved coupons at checkout. With Groceries from Walmart, users now have the ability to shop Walmart’s grocery catalogue whenever they want and add the items to a shopping cart within Yahoo Mail for pickup from a local Walmart store.

“Because of the unprecedented coronavirus challenge, online grocery shopping is now the new normal, and Verizon Media is well-positioned to take advantage of the behavior shifts,” commented Guru Gowrappan, CEO of Verizon Media. “We’re proud to partner with Walmart on this industry-first feature, helping Yahoo Mail users more easily browse and buy essential groceries without having to leave their inbox, saving them time and helping them organize their lives through enhanced and innovative experiences within their email.”

Related:Google Assistant is ready to take shoppers’ Walmart orders

Verizon Media added that it aims to capture offline-to-online customer behavior and creates a more integrated shopping experience for its approximately 900 million users. The company noted that a May survey by Inmar Intelligence found that nearly 80% of U.S. consumers are now shopping online for groceries, up about from pre-pandemic levels of just under 40%. Almost 60% also said they are shopping for groceries online more often now than before the outbreak.

Currently, one in four Americans use Yahoo Mail, which delivers 4.5 billion emails daily, according to Verizon Media. The company said Yahoo Mail is available in over 40 countries and 70 languages, with about 200 million monthly active users worldwide and 3.5% growth in worldwide mobile visitors year over year.

Last year, Walmart announced Walmart Voice Order, a new service from Yahoo rival Google that lets customers to order groceries by voice on any device with the Google Assistant. Walmart Voice Order stems from a partnership that Walmart and Google unveiled in August 2017 to enable the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant to offer hundreds of thousands of items for voice shopping via Google Assistant. The effort focused on creating the ability for customers to build a highly personalized shopping basket from recommendations based on their previous purchases of everyday essentials, including the integration of Walmart’s Easy Reorder feature into the Google Express shopping service.

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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