Walmart Launches Delivery Service For Other Retailers

Walmart has launched a delivery service that will take goods to customers of other retailers. The business, called GoLocal, is expected to be operational by the end of this year and use standard delivery vehicles but also newer tech, such as autonomous vehicles and drones, according to Walmart.

Over the past three years, Walmart has been building its own delivery network. The retail giant is able to deliver more than 160,000 items from about 3,000 of its stores nationwide.

Walmart says that GoLocal's capabilities will be nationwide at competitive pricing, including large or complex deliveries with varying deadlines.

GoLocal will be a white-label service, meaning that its vehicles won't be identified as belonging to Walmart. The deliveries will be handled as needed by Walmart workers, but also gig workers and, if necessary, other delivery companies hired temporarily.

FedEx delivers packages for Walmart's online operations, but Walmart didn't specify whether FedEx would be part of its GoLocal delivery service.

The global retailer will partner with Cruise, a self-driving electric vehicle startup that Walmart invested in last year, as well as autonomous vehicle companies Waymo and Nuro, CNBC reports. Walmart will also tap drone specialist DroneUp, another investment target, for GoLocal, along with Zipline and Flytrex.

“We’ve worked hard to develop a reliable last-mile delivery program for our customers,” Walmart U.S. Senior Vice President, Last Mile Tom Ward said in a statement. “Now, we’re pleased to be able to use these capabilities to serve another set of customers, local merchants."