Big retailers are pushing delivery strategies to engage customers.
Walmart is proving that no matter how dependable a drone might be it can’t replace the human touch of a company volunteer.
At least that’s what the retail giant hopes in its bid to bring online order delivery to customers ahead of Amazon. Enacting its newest delivery program, Walmart is asking workers to deliver online-placed orders on their way home from work, according to the Washington Post.
The idea, Walmart executives said, is to cut costs on the so-called last-mile of deliveries, when packages are driven to customers’ homes, often the most expensive part of the fulfillment process.
The company began testing the package-delivery program a month ago in three stores — two in New Jersey, one in northwest Arkansas — but did not offer details on when, or where, it would expand across the United States.
BRINGING THE BURGERS
Walmart isn’t the only corporation to try cook up a delivery strategy. McDonald’s is expanding its home delivery program. Currently, more than 2,000 McDonald’s restaurants offer delivery via UberEats, but by the end of June, that number will jump to 3,500 locations—or one in four U.S. locations, according to reports.
CEO Steve Easterbrook said McDelivery has attracted young customers, a group that traditionally has been difficult for the burger chain to entice into its stores, according to the Chicago Tribune. The average delivery time is around half an hour.
Already, the number of U.S. McDonald’s offering delivery reportedly more than doubled in less than a month.
U.S. cities with McDelivery now include Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Fresno, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C.