Speedy free delivery is an increasingly high-stakes battleground for retailers.Just two weeks after Amazon expanded its free shipping for Prime members, Walmart is responding.The brick-and-mortar retail giant is starting free next-day delivery on 220,000 items.The move hikes pressure on other rivals already investing millions of dollars to shorten the delivery window. Walmart is rolling out free next-day delivery on its most popular items, increasing the stakes in the retail shipping wars. The nation's largest retailer said Tuesday it has been building a network of more efficient e-commerce distribution centers to make that happen.
The next-day service will cover 220,000 popular items from diapers and nonperishable food items to toys and electronics. That's nearly double the number of items Walmart carries in its stores.
Next-day delivery, which will require a minimum order of $35, will be available in Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas on Tuesday. In coming days, it will expand to Southern California. The discounter plans to roll out the service to 75 percent of the U.S. population by year-end. It will also be adding hundreds of thousands more products as the program expands.
The announcement comes just two weeks after online behemoth Amazon said it's upgrading its free shipping option to Prime members, who pay $119 a year, to one-day delivery from two-day delivery. Amazon has declined to say when the switch will happen, but it already offers one-day delivery for some items in certain areas.
"Trying to get ahead"
Walmart said its new delivery program has been in the works for a while. "Customer expectations continue to rise," Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart's U.S. e-commerce division, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "We're trying to get ahead of that."
The move will only increase pressure on other rivals that are already investing millions of dollars to shorten the delivery window. Amazon changed consumer expectations when it launched its two-day delivery for Prime members back in 2005 and forced other retailers to step up their game. But analysts said Amazon then needed to cut the delivery time in half to make its membership more attractive because Walmart and other retailers offered free two-day deliveries without any membership.
Two years ago, Walmart began offering free two-day shipping on millions of items on its website for orders of at least $35. Target also offers free two-day shipping for those who spend at least $35 or use its RedCard loyalty card. Walmart has also been expanding same-day grocery delivery service fulfilled from its stores for a fee of about $10.
Lore said it will be cheaper for the company to do next-day delivery versus two-day service because eligible items will come from a single fulfillment center located closest to the customer. This means orders will ship in one box, or in as few as possible, unlike two-day deliveries that come in multiple boxes from multiple locations.
Amazon hikes self-
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