Another e-commerce body has joined the Walmart family, bolstering its delivery power as the retailer looks to win the online grocery race. It announced today that it has acquired technology-based, same-day, and last-mile delivery company Parcel, having officially closed the deal on Sept. 29.
“Delivery is increasingly one of the most important elements for today’s online shoppers, as demands for speed, flexibility, and reliability continue to grow. That’s why my team spends a lot of time thinking about ways we can make deliveries faster and more convenient for customers,” Nathan Faust, SVP U.S. e-Commerce Supply Chain, said. “Parcel is a proven leader in e-commerce package delivery, including taking fresh, frozen, and perishable food, the last mile–that is, the last step in the shipping process as products make their way from a fulfillment center to your door.”
Faust said he sees even more upside for the retailer’s own same-day deliveries. In addition to this latest step in growth, Jet.com has been testing free same-day delivery of certain orders to customers in New York City. As we recently reported, Jet.com is also launching its first privately branded line of grocery and in-house products as well.
This latest acquisition bolsters the retailer’s delivery capabilities even further in New York City, a hub of shop and home deliver. As for same-day delivery–a key offering in online grocery shopping–this positions Walmart more strongly against offerers of same day like Amazon and Instacart.
Faust added that Walmart plans to leverage Parcel for last mile delivery to customers in New York City–including same-day delivery–for both general merchandise as well as fresh and frozen groceries from Walmart and Jet.
“Parcel has partnerships with several meal kit, grocery, and e-commerce companies and has delivered more than 1 million meals in the past two years,” commented Faust. “So our immediate plan is for Parcel to continue serving its existing clients and growing its customer base. There’s a lot of upside, and I’m excited about the potential there.”
While financial details weren’t disclosed Walmart did say it was a smaller buy than previous acquisitions it’s made this year. You can see Faust’s full Q&A about Parcel on the retailer’s blog. As the cyber and delivery aspects of grocery continue to grow, Deli Market News will bring you the latest.
