In an effort to provide a better answer to Amazon Prime, Walmart’s ShippingPass subscription service will offer delivery in less than two days rather than three.
The price of the program, still in pilot after being introduced with a three-day promise last year, is also being reduced by $1 to $49 a year. Not yet available widely, ShippingPass lets Walmart.com customers get free delivery on more than one million of the most popular products on the site. Standard delivery from Walmart.com runs 4 - 6 days and is free on orders of $50 or more.
Prime likewise offers delivery in less than two days for $99 annually, but also includes perks such as free music, books, TV shows and movies.
While the lack of entertainment features helps bring ShippingPass’s cost down for consumers, Walmart said the decision to shorten its free delivery promise stemmed from synergies found across its infrastructure.
“We can offer faster and more affordable shipping because we have a unique fulfillment network that includes new large scale fulfillment centers, stores, distribution centers and our transportation network,” Walmart said in the statement.
The Wall Street Journal said Walmart is "building a regional delivery network" by shifting more inventory to its eight massive e-commerce warehouses that work with its more than 150 distribution centers. Similar to Amazon, Walmart plans to use more cost-efficient regional delivery services instead of national carriers. Finally, Walmart is looking to maximize the use of its 6,000 tractor-trailers, one of the largest private trucking fleets in the country, along with its 4,600 U.S. store locations, to support online delivery.
While other stores are partnering with ShopRunner or developing their own programs to support free-shipping demands, the Journal implied Walmart looks best positioned to take on Amazon’s logistic capabilities.
“They know transportation better than people realize,” Ivan Hofmann, a former FedEx executive and transportation consultant, told the Journal. “It’s a core strength of Walmart.
Photo: Walmart