Article
Leadership & Strategy
Walmart trials new delivery platform in response to Amazon Flex
By erptre fusion
May 19, 2020
undefined mins
Spark Delivery, Walmart’s latest move in a bid to offer home delivery in 100 US cities by the year’s end, is currently being trialled in Nashville and New Orleans
The initiative makes use of independent delivery drivers to bridge the final gap between a customer’s online order and their receipt of the goods.
Major competitor Amazon already has a similar delivery platform in place to conquer the infamous “last mile” of online goods delivery.
Amazon Flex incorporates a fleet of drivers who use their own vehicles to make deliveries, speeding up the process and getting goods to consumers swiftly.
Walmart’s new delivery system makes use of crowdsourcing alongside cooperation with Delivery Drivers Inc (DDI), a firm dedicated to managing independent drivers.
DDI will serve as Spark’s administrator for driver management, overseeing recruitment, driver screening, and accounting.
“It is important to us at DDI that we help each independent driver run their transportation business correctly”, said Aaron Hageman, CEO of DDI.
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Business Insider noted that Walmart has “4,700 U.S. stores within 10 miles (16km) of 90 percent of the U.S. population”, but this impressive statistic does not in itself solve Walmart’s conundrum over how to make deliveries as efficient as possible.
Greg Foran, President and CEO of Walmart US, said in the company’s press release:
“We’re saving customers time by leveraging new technology, and connecting all the parts of our business into a single seamless shopping experience: great stores, easy pickup, fast delivery, and apps and websites that are simple to use.”
“Spark Delivery is one way we’re exploring how to get quality groceries from our door to our customer’s doors”.
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