Wal-Mart Tests Online Grocery Delivery 229
fysdt writes "The world's biggest retailer had been rumored to be considering dipping its toe into online grocery delivery for the past few years. The 'Walmart To Go' test allows customers to visit Walmart.com to order groceries and consumables found in a Walmart store and have them delivered to their homes, the spokesman said. Products include fresh produce, meat and seafood, frozen, bakery, baby, over-the-counter pharmacy, household supplies and health and beauty items."
Yawn, it's taken them long enough... (Score:2, Interesting)
We've had that for at least 6 years now in New Zealand. Very useful, esp. when you get the discounted delivery offers. http://shop.countdown.co.nz/
Re:Yawn, it's taken them long enough... (Score:4, Informative)
But they aren't Walmart
Peapod has been doing groceries over the internet in the US for over 20 years, but they also aren't Walmart.
Re:Yawn, it's taken them long enough... (Score:4, Informative)
ASDA has been doing home delivery in the UK for ages- and they ARE Walmart.
So have all the other big grocers, incidentally. This seems like non news.
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I said they aren't Walmart that was supposed to indicate that Walmart is different and hence comparing it with some random other online grocery service is just silly.
http://shop.countdown.co.nz/ [countdown.co.nz] doesn't deliver to everywhere in NZ either so the "took them long enough" snipe is just stupid. Though there are more people in the service area of say Fresh Direct then there are people in New Zealand...
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And we've had it for at least as long here in the states, likely longer. It's not like this is particularly new even here. All this is saying is Walmart is trying it out.
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I would much prefer a pick up point where I could go after an email was sent telling me it was there.
That (except for the email) is how grocery stores worked 100 years ago
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If you've gone all the way to the store, you may as well actually go and get the stuff yourself, so you know what you're getting. Otherwise surely they've just give you the stuff closest to its expiry date.
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We've got stores in Belgium that do both delivery and pickup services. They are part of the Delhaize group, active in the US under the name Food Lion. I don't know if they offer the same services there though.
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why not, all restaurants are taco bell.
Asda have been doing this for years (Score:4, Informative)
... and of course Asda is the UK version of Walmart.
Has anyone actually set foot inside an Asda store in the past couple of years? I'm never sure if the big anonymous boxes are actually supermarkets, or just a delivery depot.
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Well, it probably comes down to the vehicles used, too. Fuel in the UK is - in practical terms - about half the price of the US. Yes, the pump price is higher, but most people drive much more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Asda deliver their stuff in vans about the same size as mine (well, one size up, not a lot bigger) that get about 40mpg from powerful, clean, efficient turbodiesel engines. In the US they'd probably use something with a 9-litre V8 producing about 70bhp and getting 9mpg at 40mph.
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Well, it probably comes down to the vehicles used, too. Fuel in the UK is - in practical terms - about half the price of the US. Yes, the pump price is higher, but most people drive much more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Asda deliver their stuff in vans about the same size as mine (well, one size up, not a lot bigger) that get about 40mpg from powerful, clean, efficient turbodiesel engines. In the US they'd probably use something with a 9-litre V8 producing about 70bhp and getting 9mpg at 40mph.
The actual price of petrol is about four times what it is in the UK, so I blame distance, not petrol or fuel efficiency.
At least around here, Asda and most supermarkets only deliver in about a 20 mile radius.
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Publix did PublixDirect back in 2001, failed miserably (in FL) and they shut it down in 2003 because there wasn't a market for it.
Speak the english please (Score:2)
"...Tests Online Grocery Delivery"
"...into online grocery delivery"
What? Incredible! This changes everything! ...Oh, wait, it's just a poor sod who either doesn't know what "delivery" means or is unclear how adjectives work.
Slashdot limits headline length (Score:2)
Asda In the UK (Score:3, Informative)
UK store Asda, while owned by Wal-Mart, had been using online shopping for years.
But why? (Score:2)
Where will we get our fix for People of Walmart [peopleofwalmart.com]?
If you're too fat for even the power chair carts at Walmart, you might be a redneck.
Online DELIVERY??? (Score:2, Funny)
Online delivery?
So the internet IS a series of tubes! The secret is out!!! It's all a conspiracy to keep the online delivered groceries out of our hands!!!!!
Or are they talking about online ordering and old fashioned 'guy on a van brings food to your home' ?
They should be doing even more (Score:2)
One of the biggest downsides of ordering something from an online retailer is having to wait a variable amount of time to get your order (and having to pay an arm and a leg to get it fast). I've always thought that Wal-Mart was uniquely situated to offering online product ordering (not just for groceries) that gives you same day delivery for a relatively reasonable price. Their size and reach and efficient logistics puts them in a unique position to offer something like that, sort of a short range FedEx. I
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The biggest draw is once you have used the service a few times all the things you buy are on your favourites list (or similar named equivalent) so it takes you about ten minutes of clicking to do what would take you an hour or more of driving, wandering around, trying to resists impulse buys, queuing for the checkout, more driving and unloading the car...
Given they offer pre-selected small window delivery times here in the UK (20 minute slots), I can get the delivery when I will be home anyway, that's an ho
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You do realize that Amazon already provides this sort of service, right? Granted I'm sure it's not everywhere yet, but that's what Amazon Fresh does, they delivery groceries on a one time or regular basis direct to your door, and the food is usually on your doorstep when you get up in the morning.
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Amazon Fresh sounds like a deodorant for tall, aggressive women.
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Webvan ! (Score:3)
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I wish there were more Aldis around. One thing I noticed about supermarkets is that they make you run around the entire perimeter of the store and then some to get the basics just so you can much more food than intended. An aldi is about 1/6 to 1/9 the size of a modern supermarket I would estimate (1/3 width * 1/3-1/2 depth). There are about 5 aisles but have what I need 90% of the time. Unlike most mom/pops or convenience stores, they're very cheap, even compared to the supermarkets. The cashiers are
Pretty Good (Score:4, Interesting)
When I moved out of my mother's basement I used the Albertson's delivery service until they shut it down. It was $14 per delivery, regardless of size, so I'd get all of my groceries for the month in one order.
It was a lot easier to avoid impulse buying and to plan out what was actually needed when I could place the order online. Albertson's would remember your previous order so it was easy to just adjust it slightly each month.
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, so I'd get all of my groceries for the month in one order
Well I guess you saved money. That's about three and a half weeks of frozen dinners, canned food and dry goods by my count, though...
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Impulse buying groceries is a really interesting phenomenon, and something I'm very prone to myself. The question is, how does your purchasing change in the long run if you can eliminate impulse buying? There seems to be only a few possibilities: 1. You buy healthier items and aren't tempted by junk food and instant gratification foods as much 2. You buy less and throw out less food and
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I enjoy grocery shopping as well, but that's in "normal" grocery stores, that I can conveniently drop into on my normal walking route.
Walmart (and other U.S. style suburban mega box stores) are different: they're truly unpleasant places, and typically require a dedicated trip to the edge of town or something. I can imagine many people would pony up some cash to get the low prices of Walmart while avoiding the depressing experience and inconvenience.
It's a sad comment on the state the U.S., with the disi
Has been working fine... (Score:3, Interesting)
Has been working fine in Belgium for about 10 years or so. Several of the major stores offer this service for a small fee.
Yes! (Score:2, Funny)
If it keeps these people [peopleofwalmart.com] at home and out of the public view, I'm all for it.
1999 called (Score:4, Funny)
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I remember someone talking about how they could order lifesavers from webvan with free delivery and they'd actually drop this off in a small packet! And these were the days of 99 cent gas.
I'd guess it should be $20 order minimum. Maybe more.
They are late to the party, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:They are late to the party, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
A food's ability to be delivered depends a lot on how well it handles a 30 minute wait. Pizza is okay luke warm, cold, or re-heated. Chinese isn't so great cold, but you can insulate it pretty well and keep it warm enough for arrival, same with Indian food (both reheat okay). Cold sandwiches/subs deliver fine too.
A burger, on the other hand, gets soggy, cold, and disgusting by the 30 minute mark. Fries are similar. These days most fast food places have pretty fast turnover of their fries, and within about 15 minutes of them being left out they're a pale imitation of how good they taste when you first get them. Tex-Mex is similar - tacos get soggy, so much that Taco Bell tastes much worse if you get it in the drive through and drive 10 minutes home with it.
On the other hand, fried chicken products tend to do okay with the wait time. So while we don't see very many chicken-only delivery places, the major pizza chains often add chicken wings to their delivery options.
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I know at least three places in my immediate area that will deliver a burger, and they arrive quite tasty.
On the flipside, I can't find a single Indian place that will deliver!
Re:They are late to the party, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Walmart's profit on sales is very low - something like 3.5% across all merchandise. Grocery items have even smaller profit margins. For this to have even a slight chance of success the delivery fee will need to be tiny as the average Walmart customer is just that cost conscious. That tiny fee could easily be eaten up given even the smallest change in gas prices. I buy nearly all my groceries at Walmart. Given the choice of a $10 delivery fee and actually going to the store I will go to the store every single time.
I live near Walmart's home office, and I have to tell you, Walmart is scared. They are entering unfamiliar territory and they do not know what to do. Other than a few isolated urban pockets, there is no where left for Walmart to expand. You can go to the middle of Alaska and there is a Walmart there. Walmart's years of explosive growth have ended. The stock price has barely budged over the last 10 years. While sales increase, the profit on those sales is decreasing. Something Walmart is trying to pilot here are stores in small towns (pop. 2500) that compete with dollar stores (Family Dollar, Dollar General). This not only breaks their distribution model (large trucks over large roads to large stores) but will drain sales from their existing large stores. Those smaller stores in smaller markets will have even smaller profit margins. Walmart isn't chasing pennies any longer, they are chasing hundredths of cents. Walmart is not innovating they are copying. This grocery delivery trial is just the latest attempt by Walmart of trying something (anything) to reverse what is in all likelihood a slow but inevitable death. Walmart isn't going away anytime soon, but they are going away.
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I have to question that statement - because around here the electronics departments only run around 2000-2500 square feet to begin with. (And they've been that size for over a decade.)
Not only that -
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Delivery fee is $5 is you specify a 4 hour window. It only works on volume. If you and all your neighbor order, it will be profitable. This actually is re-making me a customer of Walmart. The San Jose area only has 2 Walmarts and no supercenters. This gives me access to supercenter products without driving 20 miles. I put in my first order.
Considering the time,gas and hassle, $10 delivery fee isn't much. It can be as low as $5, which I think is worth it. Honestly if they only do this to addre
McDonalds delivers...in Asia (Score:3)
The McDonalds in Chengdu China has 24 hour delivery.
I saw the McDonalds delivery phone number prominently displayed in McDonalds in Thailand.
KFC also delivers in Asian countries.
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Really? Most generic takeaways in the UK deliver burgers. There are no specialised burger places like that, but the general pizza/kebab/burger takeaways will deliver.
Watch out for ordering too much "fresh" produce (Score:2)
Here we have this great service from Albert Heijn (AH). I'm living in an apartment building with a lot of people, and ordering just the toilet paper online is totally worth it. But there was a consumer program called "Radar" and they had a show on the "fresh produce" problem. AH guarantees that you will have at least 2 days until the expiry date, but that makes it hard to buy for a whole week. In the shop you can - eh - shop around for the latest expiry date, but that trick does not work with an online shop
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Groceries over the internet? (Score:2)
Does that mean I have to upgrade to a 10 Giga-carrot connection?
Amazon has been doing that for a while (Score:4, Informative)
Amazon, of all companies, has been doing that for a while [amazon.com] in Seattle.
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That whole "serving customers in the Seattle area" thing makes it pretty useless to 99% of the population of the US.
Online delivery -- download me a beer, hon. (Score:2)
Forget Delivery (Score:2)
Please, just let me shop from my phone and then pick it up.
Who am I kidding? I'd be thrilled if they could just figure out that the Frozen aisles go last.
Long standard in the UK (Score:2)
Supermarket home delivery has been standard in the UK for almost a decade now. For £4-5, they'll deliver an entire order by truck in several crates. All the major supermarkets do this, though Asda's coverage is spotty. (Asda being of course owned by Wal-Mart!) And you don't have to journey to a hideous fluorescent-lit barn on a Saturday and want to kill every other person there.
The UK is smaller than the US, but for urban or suburban areas this sort of delivery service should be quite doable.
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I had a food load for 10 people delivered to the middle of the yorkshire dales on New Years Eve, so I have a new respect for tesco's universal delivery policy. I think some of the scottish isles you'd be out of luck but it's a lifeline for remote people too!
Thank you Slashdot, I'm in the delivery area! (Score:2)
Oh, Slashdot, while you are a wonderful waste of time normally, this time I thank you. I recently moved from the Kansas City Area (1.5 miles from a Walmart Super Center) to San Jose. Prices here are crazy and the closest Walmart Super Center is 20 miles, (10 to normal store). However thanks to Slashdot, I now know that Walmart delivers to my new address and I plan to use the service heavily. The 5.00 delivery fee is easily offset by the savings from the local stores(not to mention gas cost). My firs
All out of electric carts (Score:2)
Given the average weight of a wal-mart shopper is about 450 lbs., this is a perfect business model. Bring the ho-hos to the "mass"es.
Re:I object to delivery charges... (Score:4, Interesting)
Two major reasons for supermarkets charging a fee ...
1. The profit margin is presumably far lower than a food place.
2. The delivery people likely are regular hourly paid employees and aren't expected to be tipped; use company vehicles instead of their own.
Ron
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Around here a 80 dollar grocery bill isn't much food.
Some of the higher end specialty groceries have done this for decades. It has worked for them and made them 'special'.
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I'm living off about that much per month in the UK, delivered. ...
And not that unhealthily.
Pick the right ingredients, with an eye to cost, proper use of a freezer,
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A lot depends on how often you shop :).. We shop every couple of weeks and it runs about 100.
Sure we *could* reduce it, but we are pretty average folk so i can safely say that around here its an average shopping bill, so the delivery minimum order issue, isnt.
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Re:I object to delivery charges... (Score:4, Interesting)
Indeed. Albertson's has an interesting idea going, they've got basically three tiers of service, do it yourself, pickup and delivery. You pay a bit to have the groceries waiting for you when you stop by, but the cost of it can be a deal if you're in a situation of having to pay for daycare for an additional hour.
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That just means take-out is a windfall for them.
Businesses that eat their costs don't stay businesses for long. I know this isn't the more pro-business forum on the Internet but really?
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Because no business has ever subsidised one product line with revenue from another. Never in all of history. A casino has never eaten the cost of a room (given free must be below what it costs to have a maid clean it) because they'll make up the loss on that product with the additional profits on another product like the gambling tables.
Which of course isn't applicable to the take-out/delivery case, but then again you spoke about general businesses. Plus of course take-out has some costs that delivery does
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I'm not sure comping a room because you'll make more money on the tables is complicated, but ok...
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Domino's charges about half as much if you pick up the pizza yourself, yet still claims delivery is free...
Is this only if you go in the store? On their website, delivery and collection is the same price.
Re:well free delivery you need to tip to pay the c (Score:4, Informative)
GP like me, is British. We dont tip if we can help it :)
Only people I tip,
- barber shop,
- mechanic (to make them less likely to rip me off), and
- restaurant if there is no service charge.(cash direct to serving staff - no Credit Card tip)
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But this is a barber. Big chair, bottles of blue mystery fluid with the combs in it, warm foamy shave cream dispenser, straight blade razor sharpener on the side of the chair. He will use the straight razor on the sideburns.
The barber's price is 1/2 to 2/3 that of a "male haircut" at a salon. Of course, the barber haircut looks pretty much always the same for everyone no matter what you "request" and it takes 5 minutes.
The style opti
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Re:Not news... at least not in the UK... (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed - I can order online from any of three supermarkets - Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys,
At the moment, I'm unable to drive, as health problems are making it difficult for me
to get my licence. This also means I'm on a severe budget.
Online delivery means I don't have to drag a couple of bags home on the bus every
day or three - it's great!
It also means that with the aid of my freezer, I can eat really quite cheaply indeed.
I base my orders around buy-one-get-one-free, or half-price offers, and am at the
moment shopping around monthly.
One of them even has an online API! http://www.techfortesco.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0 [techfortesco.com]
Being able to complete an order at leisure, and to reflect on each purchases value and
calories/... has greatly trimmed my grocery bill and waistline.
I'm in a small village - 6 miles from the nearest town of 40K - no 'fast food' places will deliver.
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Not lugging the bags back is a small mercy, I guess, but hardly making the best use of a delivery infrastructure. As someone else pointed out, one of the biggest advantages by far of grocery delivery is the website learning what you usually order, so the whole process is done in ten minutes.
While I agree that online ordering is probably for the best, still being able to shop is probably good as well. If the customers are willing to wait a day or two you can save fuel and such by optimizing the delivery routes. Software is actually getting pretty good at it nowadays. The more people the better, of course. Sort of like how it's a heck of a lot cheaper for a lawn care service to hit EVERY house on a block rather than a house here and there - they'll cut deals of half price or more in exchange
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Not really news in Canada either. There's either companies that do it for you, or the stores itself do it. Then again, you jump back 50 years and you could get everything delivered too. For the last year I've had milk delivered to my house once a week. The local dairy does it here, and it costs nothing. I'm glad to see my milk box is getting a use again.
Chicks to go: (Score:5, Funny)
Will that be Jersey Giant, Rhode Island Red, or Leghorn?
Oh, and we tried fitting Barbie doll shorts, but they don't fit that well.
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Try Bantams. They're smaller and more docile. If the shorts don't fit, you'll at least have an easier time trying.
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meant to add go to...
Health and beauty -> pharmacy -> durex (brand)
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Re:Why Walmart and not WholeFoods or Trader Joes? (Score:4, Interesting)
Walmart is not known for having quality food. Why is it so difficult to find a delivery service for quality food but so easy to find a delivery service from Stop and Shop or Walmart?
Trader Joe's would rather you come into the store. The food itself is only part of the experience shopping there, the demo program, employees that actually talk to you, and the generous return policy are some of the things that make Trader Joe's unique.
Disclaimer: I have worked there for 5 years, 3 in a management position, multiple stores. I can't speak for Whole Foods, but I would imagine they would also want customers to come into the store instead of just "getting the food".
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Small Format Grocery store with a natural/organic spin. They sell all self branded products. I come from the midwest and would say they are a much higher quality Aldi's
quality schmality (Score:2)
It has nothing to do with quality. Those high end grocers are running boutiques. They depend on an elitist consumer base that will try new things and incorporate them into a growing palate.
Walmart depends on people expecting the same thing at the cheapest price. They're not always cheapest but if you keep people coming back rather than running off to other local markets they have nothing to compare.
This is why there's a walmart in every small town in america. Even here in the big ol' city there's two whole
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If anyone is really thinking Trader Joe's is any better than Walmart, they may want to double check the packaging of your food(s) you buy there.
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People who buy based on quality rather than price would probably want to actually see the food before they buy it. Delivery is a good way of getting rid of all the greying meat and wilted lettuces. Walmart shoppers probably wouldn't notice the difference.
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Yes the do.... they wander around the store for you with a hand scanner with a screen that tells them what to pick and in the optimum order to pick it...
You can also give written instructions like 'I prefer bananas that are almost going black' if you really want... which they may or may not pay attention to.
Some of the fancier systems even let you enter the number from an old till receipt and let you easily choose items from it without having to search the online store four preferred brand of hair gel
Re:what? (Score:4, Funny)
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Does it matter? If they're not "disabled" now, they soon will be. People who eat themselves into disability are becoming extremely common in the US.
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Smoking is actually the most common cause, but working in a dirty industrial environment could also contribute. A lot of the Fatboi Skooter crowd are suffering from diseases relating to decades of food abuse and zero exercise though. Type 2 diabetes, congestive heart failure, etc. Many of them wound up that way at least in part because of chronic pain issues and greedy, incompetent
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In the UK, they operate on the basis that you can return anything you get delivered for any reason or none.
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I don't think Wal-Mart is intended to be a place you buy actual groceries.
Must not have been a Super Wal-Mart, which is a grocery store bolted onto a Wal-Mart..
Decent prices, slightly limited selection and just a mile from home.