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“I am very, very grateful that we have 4,700, roughly, stores,” John Furner , chief executive of Walmart U.S., told The Wall Street Journal in an interview, clarifying that they’re also used as delivery hubs. “It’s something that perhaps a few years ago people would not have expected we would have been able to deliver at scale.”
In many cases, this vast network of fulfillment centers can make getting what you need much faster from Walmart. The retailer even developed its own delivery logistics company, Spark, to help streamline the process and keep costs relatively low for everyone involved.
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Walmart
On the other hand, Walmart has found serious success in its ability to get essentials to customers as quickly as possible. Compared to 2023, the coverage network for same-day grocery deliveries has jumped from 76 percent of all American households to 93 percent today, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Most notably, Walmart+ members get free access to an ad-supported Paramount Plus streaming service subscription, which normally costs $4.99 per month.
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You can also save big time on other services using a Walmart+ account, most notably a discount on gas for $0.10 off per gallon . The deal is available at more than 13,000 stations across the U.S., including Exxon, Mobil, Walmart & Murphy stations.
Besides the free burgers included with your subscription, you can also get 25 percent off every online purchase with Burger King.
Plus, there’s access to a rotating selection of offers, including everything from a free five-month subscription to Apple Music, four months of Apple Fitness, and 25 percent of live tax help from Intuit, to name a few.
Walmart
One of the problems with grocery delivery can be coordinating a handoff. After all, no one wants their milk, eggs, and ice cream sitting in the sun for hours before you make it home from work and get it inside.
This allows customers to choose to have their grocery deliveries left on their front door, dropped off safely inside their garage, or even have the delivery person put away sensitive items right into your fridge for you. It’s a unique add-on that can come in handy for those who may not have the time to spare.
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Besides making it easier to groceries delivered to you, Walmart has gone an extra step to ensure you don’t regret outsourcing the chore. While fine tuning its offerings during its expansion, the company was able to calculate everything from how long drivers could feasibly drive given local conditions like urban density and traffic.
The new system makes it less likely that perishable items won’t survive a super long trip—and less likely a Spark driver will give up or become frustrated due to an especially long delivery time, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company also invested in new training and systems to help ensure there are fewer errors during deliveries.
And while it might cost a little extra in fees to ensure a drop-off within the next few hours, Walmart executives say more than a third of customers opt to pay for the convenience, per The Wall Street Journal .
