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Walmart, Target Stepping Up Omnichannel Ahead of Holidays

| Mike O'Brien

In an effort to make ordering and receiving goods easier for the holidays, Walmart and Target have both announced upgrades to their omnichannel strategies as supply chain woes continue to impact inventory stock levels and consumers worry that products won’t be available.

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Home Depot First Customer for Walmart Delivery Service

| Mike O'Brien

Home Depot has signed on as the first retail customer of Walmart’s new service, GoLocal, with Walmart providing same-day and next-day delivery in select stores in Texas, New Mexico and Northwest Arkansas in the coming weeks, expanding thereafter.

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Wakefern Testing Robot Delivery in Pennsylvania

| Mike O'Brien

Independent grocery cooperative Wakefern Food Corp. is testing robot delivery at two ShopRite stores in Pennsylvania as retailers continue to explore automated options for augmenting traditional methods to make e-grocery fulfillment faster and more efficient. Stores in Yardley and Bethlehem are participating in the trial.

MCM CommerceChat podcast

Instacart and the Great Facebook Talent Raid

| Mike O'Brien

Instacart has been on its own shopping spree, hiring away Fidji Simo, who ran Facebook’s main app, as CEO, as well as Facebookers Carolyn Everson as president and Asha Sharma as COO. What’s behind Instacart’s Facebook hiring binge? In this latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, we explore the subject with Orlee Tal, CEO of Stor.ai.

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Walmart Marketplace: How Your Brand Can Win

| Nathan Rigby

A new marketplace creates opportunity, and you should develop a specific strategy for the Walmart marketplace. You should also measure the success of each campaign to determine what elements need optimization and the most effective ways to reach customers. Here are 3 ways to strategize for sales on Walmart.com.

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American Eagle Expands Same-Day Delivery with ShopRunner

| Mike O'Brien

American Eagle Outfitters has expanded its offering of free same-day delivery for members of partner ShopRunner to include 50 U.S. cities, up from six when the retailer started working with the FedEx acquired service in October. During the past year, American Eagle and Aerie have offered free store and curbside pickup.

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Amazon Key Garage Delivery Expands Nationwide

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon is expanding its Amazon Key program, which lets its delivery drivers access a Prime customer’s garage to drop off orders, to more than 5,000 U.S. cities and towns, wherever its grocery delivery services are available from Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market. The program, free to Prime members, was first tested three years ago.

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Walmart, Target Stepping Up Last-Mile Fulfillment

| Mike O'Brien

Walmart and Target both announced plans Thursday to improve last-mile fulfillment and delivery from their stores, taking alternate routes via an investment in self-driving car project Cruise, and a new sortation facility powered by acquired technologies from Grand Junction and Deliv, respectively.

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Amazon Wrongly Fired Workers For Speaking Out, NLRB Says

| Mike O'Brien

The National Labor Relations Board has accused Amazon of illegally firing two tech workers last year who spoke out publicly about its treatment of fulfillment workers and its sustainability policies, and upheld a complaint by a worker who led a Queens, NY walkout in 2020. Amazon also apologized for a tweet attacking a political critic.