In late 2013, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos boldly proclaimed on the popular CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” that drones would be delivering orders for its customers within five years. But apparently, the future isn’t now according to a report in the Seattle Times.
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.
Pouring more water into its moat, Amazon has totally eliminated shipping charges this holiday season, removing the $25 threshold for non-Prime members on items ordered in time for Christmas delivery. Amazon is also hiring and managing thousands of seasonal delivery drivers to handle the holiday crush.
Same-day delivery is an increasingly popular tool for retailers and ecommerce companies to get an edge on competitors and satisfy customer expectations. This infographic from GoPeople highlights same-day trends and statistics, providing a window into customer preferences and how businesses are using it.
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.
Walmart is taking a page from Uber with its new Spark Delivery program, which uses crowdsourced drivers managed by the Bringg delivery logistics platform to get same-day grocery orders to customers.
Amazon has ordered 20,000 trucks from Mercedes-Benz to help power its new army of entrepreneurs creating small delivery businesses that will help Prime orders along the last mile to customers’ doorsteps.
Target continues to fire on all cylinders in terms of fulfillment, delivery and omnichannel, expanding its delivery from store and curbside pickup programs ahead of the holidays and seeing strong growth in its Shipt same-day delivery service.
Worldpay is testing out a proof of concept that ties together payment verification with residential drone delivery via a special landing pad that doubles as a payment information communication system.
Less than a year into a pilot program that had employees making local deliveries of online orders, Walmart in January all but quashed the program quietly as associate buy-in wasn’t happening. See how it’s still happening at one Georgia store, and other ways Walmart is working to figure out local fulfillment of ecommerce orders.