Walmart will drop the $35 minimum order requirement for its Express delivery, letting shoppers receive any purchase within two hours for a fee of $10. Walmart+ members only need to pay the $10 Express fee, while other shoppers can add it to any existing delivery charge.
Express delivery is currently offered in nearly 3,000 Walmart stores, which together reach nearly 70% of the U.S. population. The service launched at 100 stores in April 2020 and rapidly expanded due to demand created by the pandemic, though the newest change seems aimed at offering convenience after the times of social distancing.
“Many customers use Express delivery for when they’re in a pinch, whether it be a missing ingredient for a weeknight dinner or a pack of diapers,” said Tom Ward, SVP of Customer Product at Walmart in a statement. “Customers told us sometimes the items they needed in a hurry didn’t meet the minimum, so we’re removing it, making it even easier for customers to get what they need when they need it.”
Walmart has been rapidly expanding its ecommerce capabilities in the past year. One of the retail giant’s most notable launches was Walmart+, its Amazon Prime competitor, which reportedly added more than 30 million subscribers in the two weeks after it launched in September 2020. Other recent ecommerce initiatives include:
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- Partnering with Instacart to boost same-day delivery capabilities;
- Testing climate-controlled smart boxes for more convenient grocery delivery windows; and
- Launching livestreams on TikTok to expand into a new potential shopping channel.
