BENTONVILLE, AR - Things are heating up in the grocery delivery game, with retailers across the globe scrambling to take dominance over consumers’ desire to have food delivered fast and cheap. While services like Shipt and Instacart and e-tailer Amazon have unlimited delivery plans in place, Walmart is the latest to try to take them on, debuting a pilot program for an annual delivery subscription service—dubbed Delivery Unlimited.
Walmart has set the annual fee for the service at $98 dollars (or $12.95 per month)—falling just below Shipt and Instacart’s $99 annual fee, and even further below Amazon’s $119 annual fee, Business Insider reports. Shipt was acquired by Target in 2017, and provides delivery services for the retailer and other grocers, including Lidl and Winn-Dixie. Still more retailers have partnered up with Instacart, including Sam's Club and SuperValu, to expand their presence in the grocery delivery sector. This strategic move to undercut the competition comes with added savings, with normal Walmart shipping costs of $7.95 to $9.95 per order, the new service would pay for itself at around 12 orders. This level of savings could potentially encourage more consumers to take advantage of grocery delivery on a regular basis.
Currently, Walmart is testing the service in select cities—Houston, TX; Miami, FL; Tampa, FL; and Salt Lake City, UT. Shoppers in other states will have to pray that the test is well received, prompting the retailer to expand its Delivery Unlimited service nationwide.
Will this attempt lowball the competition work out for the retailer? And will this service promote more grocery deliveries? AndNowUKnow will report.
