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Walmart has begun testing the use of shelves in the back rooms of its stores as a staging area for same-day delivery of third-party merchandise, the Financial Times reported Sunday (April 19), citing sources familiar with the project.
The Financial Times described the effort as a challenge to Amazon, which offers third-party sellers same-day delivery through its order fulfillment service.
A source familiar with Walmart’s campaign said the experiments are taking place at several stores in Dallas, a city that has previously been used to test new Walmart technology.
Manish Joneja, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. Marketplace and Walmart Fulfillment Services, said in a statement to the Financial Times: “Starting in a few markets, we’ll soon be offering a select assortment of marketplace items through the pickup and delivery experience customers already know and love. It’s an intentional test that will help us learn and scale over time.”
According to the report, most of Walmart’s online sales come from first-party merchandise—products in the company’s own inventory. Walmart Supercenter stores typically stock roughly 120,000 individual products, including groceries, apparel and electronics.
Walmart launched its online marketplace in 2009. At a recent industry conference, John David Rainey, Walmart’s chief financial officer, said revenues are growing at around 20% each year. He added that categories including home, hardlines and fashion are growing at a rate greater than 30%.
Rainey said these are areas where Walmart has been “a little weaker in on a relative basis,” adding: “We’ve talked about the need to grow our general merchandise assortment. This is a great opportunity to do that.”
The Financial Times cited data from eMarketer indicating that U.S. sales on Walmart’s marketplace platform were less than $14 billion last year. By comparison, Walmart’s total net sales were $483 billion, while Amazon’s U.S. marketplace sales were $333 billion.
Separately, PYMNTS Intelligence research highlighted differences in how shoppers under financial stress choose retailers in the Walmart-versus-Amazon competition.
PYMNTS reported that among online grocery shoppers under high financial stress, 56% made their most recent purchase at Walmart, compared with 50% of low-stress shoppers.
In stores, the gap was larger: PYMNTS said 37% of high-stress grocery shoppers last bought at Walmart, versus 26% of low-stress shoppers.
The report also noted that Dollar Tree has gained ground among stressed in-store retail consumers, “reinforcing the idea that shoppers are actively seeking merchants tied to lower prices and tighter control over spending.”
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