Walmart introduces “in-fridge” delivery service on grocery sales

Walmart’s newly announced in-home grocery delivery service is the latest way the massive global retailer aims to compete with Amazon.

Amazon has been the leader in the online grocery delivery space, starting its AmazonFresh delivery concept in major United States cities several years ago, and recently expanding that service to London and other cities. With its recent purchase of Whole Foods and the opening of Amazon Go, a high-tech pilot grocery store in Seattle earlier this year, it’s also aiming to be a player in the physical grocery space. 

Meanwhile, Walmart has begun offering grocery delivery services in a growing number of U.S. cities and recently added its grocery pick-up service at its thousandth store. Both are services that make it more convenient for shoppers to order food – including fresh and frozen seafood – online and get it home.

However, Walmart’s new test service takes grocery delivery a step further with “in-fridge” delivery. With its direct-to-fridge service, a shopper places his or her order for food and non-food items on walmart.com, and then a Deliv driver takes the packages to their homes. Via a partnership with the smart lock company August Home, if no one answers the doorbell, the shopper will have a one-time passcode that they have pre-authorized to open their home smart lock. 

“As the homeowner, I’m in control of the experience the entire time – the moment the Deliv driver rings my doorbell, I receive a smartphone notification that the delivery is occurring and, if I choose, I can watch the delivery take place in real-time,” Sloan Eddleston, vice president of e-commerce strategy and business operation at Walmart, wrote in a blog post.

The Deliv associate unloads the shopper’s groceries into their refrigerator. 

“I’m watching the entire process from start to finish from my home security cameras through the August app. As I watch the Deliv associate exit my front door, I even receive confirmation that my door has automatically been locked,” Eddleston wrote.

The idea for “in-fridge delivery” came about because Walmart executives recognize that “shopping for groceries can be a hassle for my busy family.”

 "We asked the question: What if Walmart could help busy families like mine ensure my fridge was always well-stocked? What if we created a service that not only did my grocery shopping and brought everything to my home, but even went so far as to put it directly into my fridge? And, what if it was even more convenient because this “in-fridge delivery” happened while I was at work or off doing other things?” Eddleston wrote.

Walmart didn’t say how much the service would cost its users.

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