Israeli automation startup Fabric, formerly known as CommonSense Robotics, has raised $110 million in a Series B round with plans to accelerate growth in the U.S. including plans to build 14 on-site micro fulfillment centers to enable same-day delivery. The first FC will open in New York in Q1, with several other cities following.
Walmart is launching an in-the-fridge e-grocery delivery service it announced this summer, starting in Pittsburgh, Vero Beach, FL and Kansas City, similar to Amazon’s own delivery service launched last year. Walmart customers can choose either kitchen or garage fridge delivery and pay $19.95 per month with a $30 minimum.
Online e-grocery ordering and delivery platform Mercato has announced a subscription offering that provides unlimited free same-day deliveries for members in 25 states, a direct shot at the AmazonFresh program and other competitors. The program comes in Neighborhood and City flavors and uses DoorDash as its delivery partner.
Amazon and Walmart will continue to slug it out atop the world of global e-grocery food sales, with the ecommerce giant projected to pass the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer by 2024 with revenues of $15 billion, compared to $14 billion, according to a new report from research firm Edge by Ascential. The projected CAGR through 2024 is 13%.
It’s coming down to the wire for our Ecommerce Operations Summit 2020 call for speakers, which closes next Friday, Aug. 16. Our 9th annual event will be held April 14-16, 2020 at the Marriott Orlando World Center in Orlando, FL – a nice change of venue, don’t you think? Get your submission in now and elevate the conversation!
Wakefern Food Corp., parent of grocery brands ShopRite, Price Rite, the Fresh Grocer and Dearborn Market, has opened an automated micro fulfillment center in Clifton, NJ through a partnership with Takeoff Technologies, with plans to launch more.
Moving above and beyond the game-changing Whole Foods acquisition from 2017, Amazon is considering creation of a new hybrid grocery chain that would combine aspects of a pickup and delivery operation with a smaller retail space for shopping fresh items, according to a report in the New York Times.
Israeli firm CommonSense Robotics is building what it says is the world’s first underground automated fulfillment operation for grocery delivery, anticipating a future where facilities like this will occupy abandoned urban spaces above and below ground to fulfill one-hour deliveries for city dwellers.
In the never-ending quest for delivery immediacy, grocer Kroger is testing out 30-minute deliveries in its home market of Cincinnati, cutting the promised time from Amazon’s Prime Now in half. Called Kroger Rush, the service costs $5.95 per order, with the first order free, and requires an app download.
After weeks of concentrating its fire on Amazon, Walmart is now dealing with a flank action from Target as the latter has fully integrated its Shipt same-day delivery service with Target.com. Walmart, for its part, just launched a $98 per year subscription program for same-day grocery delivery, a service that normally costs $9.95 per order.