Walmart has been investing heavily in its E-Commerce platforms, acquiring a host of websites. Marc Lore, the President and CEO of Walmart’s U.S. E-Commerce Business said 4,700 of the big-box retailer’s stores, which the company is leveraging as “hybrid warehouses” to compete with Amazon’s rapid delivery services, are within 10 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population. The company is planning to roll out same-day delivery to 40 percent of the population by the end of this year, and to 60 percent of the population by 2019.
Now, Walmart is about to take food delivery to a whole new level. Lore stated in an interview that “delivery right into the fridge” could be in the cards as Walmart expands its delivery services.
Lore, who co-founded Walmart subsidiary Jet.com, envisions consumers getting a “one-time code” at the start of the process.
Then, the delivery person arrives “with a camera on their chest. You can watch it on your iPhone and see them come in, put it in your fridge and leave, to sort of build confidence and trust in these Walmart associates doing it. So, imagine going out to work, coming home, and there it is. The stuff’s in your fridge already.”
The next step beyond that would be “not even having to order” the food you’re getting, said Lore, who has served as the head of Walmart E-Commerce since September 2016. “How about just being able to keep you in stock on everything you need and not even have to think about it? That’s the future.”
