Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will be giving its customers access to unlimited same-day grocery deliveries this fall with its Delivery Unlimited program. The company has been testing the program in Houston, Miami, Salt Lake City, and Tampa and will be expanding it to the same 200 metro areas where the company’s Grocery Delivery program is already available. From there, both will grow together to reach 1,600 stores and cover more than 50 percent of the U.S. by year’s end.
The Delivery Unlimited membership costs $98 a year, or $12.95 a month, with a 15-day free trial. Walmart will also continue to provide its Grocery Delivery program, which lets customers pay $7.95 per delivery, or $9.95 for same-day delivery, without a membership fee. The retailer also lets customers buy groceries online and pick them up in store at nearly 3,000 stores.
The grocery services will be fulfilled by local stores and require a minimum order of $30. With same-day delivery, there’s a four-hour minimum wait time between the order being placed and the order being delivered. About 100,000 items qualify for both grocery pickup and delivery, including meats, produce, pantry staples, and general merchandise items. The prices will be the same as in-store.
Currently the world’s largest retailer and the biggest grocer in the U.S., Walmart is committed to protecting its fresh food business from Amazon and its Whole Foods chain. Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13.2 billion in 2017 and is using it to expand in the grocery business, which includes its Amazon Fresh delivery program. Amazon’s Fresh program costs $14.99 a month on top of a $119 Prime membership.
