After beefing up its grocery delivery chops here, including automated kiosks and crowdsourcing, Walmart is now testing same-day grocery delivery to customers in China through a hookup with WeChat and delivery service Dada. This is separate from Walmart’s partnership with JD.com, although both have invested in Dada.
Grocery giant Kroger is adding voice ordering to its online arsenal, interestingly hitching its wagon to the Google Assistant voice app and not to Amazon’s Echo, at six of its associated brands, the company announced. See what else Kroger is up to as well as other tech skirmishes in the escalating online grocery wars.
In the continuing saga of strange bedfellows teaming up to combat the threat of Amazon, a Kroger/Walgreens pilot in northern Kentucky outside Cincinnati allows shoppers to pick up Kroger orders at 13 select Walgreens and purchase Kroger products while there.
Jet.com will begin selling products from Nike in New York and offer customers more delivery options in a bid to compete with Amazon for urban, affluent consumers, according to media reports, with expansion to follow in other major markets.
Kroger, demonstrating why it is a force to be reckoned with in e-grocery, is now offering same-day delivery in five markets, while also testing out self-driving delivery in a Phoenix pilot and creating automated distribution centers with partner Ocado.
Flexing its Whole Foods Market muscles, Amazon announced an expansion of same-day grocery delivery in New York and three cities in Florida, after Walmart’s Jet.com and FreshDirect both announced plans for fulfillment centers in the Bronx, NY.
As the battle heats up for same-day grocery delivery in urban markets, Jet.com is opening a new fulfillment center this fall in the Bronx, NY to service New York City customers with not only food in a flash but other merchandise as well. See what other players are up to in the hyper-competitive market.
Walmart reported 33% growth in U.S. ecommerce in Q1 with online grocery being a contributing factor to the growth. Total revenue was $122.7 billion, an increase of $5.1 billion or 4.4%. See what led to the improvement from the fourth quarter to the first quarter.
In a smaller version of December’s Target-Shipt deal, Dallas-based grocery chain H-E-B is acquiring Favor Delivery of Austin, an app-based service with access to 50,000 “runners” across Texas.
As it continues to integrate its Whole Foods acquisition and deal with pullback in Amazon Fresh, Amazon is reportedly looking to consolidate that service with its Prime Now same-day delivery offering.