Walmart is “aggressively” expanding its Online Grocery Pickup Service, according to Mark Lore, president and CEO of Walmart U.S. e-commerce. Lore says on the company’s website that the service is now in 600 stores with an additional 500 coming this year.
That news comes as Lore also reveals that, beginning April 19, Walmart will begin offering a discount on eligible, online-only (non-store) items that customers buy online and ship to any Walmart store for pick up. Pickup Discount will initially be available on about 10,000 items and roll out to more than one million of the most popular items by the end of June, according to the retailer.
“With Pickup Discount, we are beginning to take the ethos behind Jet’s Smart Cart and marrying it with Walmart’s operational efficiency to bring price transparency to life at Walmart.com.”
Lore explains how the company is providing Pickup Discount.
“We can remove the last mile delivery costs (that represent the lion’s share of the costs to ship products to customers’ homes) when we leverage our fleet of more than 6,700 trucks to deliver products directly from fulfillment centers to our 4,700 stores. This means, quite simply, it costs less for us to ship to stores. So, our customers should share in those savings.”
Here’s how Pickup Discount works: Customers shop an item notated with “Pickup Discount” on Walmart.com and ship to their local store for pick up. These shoppers will then receive a discount based on each individual item. For example:
- Britax B-SAFE 35 Infant Car Seat, Slate Strie: $148.05 will have an additional Pickup Discount of $7.40 ($140.65 new price)
- LEGO City Great Vehicles Ferry, 60119: $23.99 will have an additional Pickup Discount of $2.55 ($21.44 new price)
- Coleman 150 qt Heritage XP Marine Cooler: $111.49 will have an additional Pickup Discount of $4.46 ($107.03 new price)
- VIZIO SmartCast M-Series 70″ Class 4K Ultra HDTV (M70-D3): $1,698 will have an additional Pickup Discount of $50 ($1,648 new price).
“We already offer great prices online,” says Lore. “We do that every day. Offering a discount on Pickup demonstrates how we can take that to the next level by operating more efficiently and removing costs from the system to give customers even more ways to save.”