In this article:
- Home Depot is the first business to use Walmart’s new delivery business, GoLocal.
- The same-day and next-day delivery service can be selected at checkout for items small enough to fit into cars.
Whether it’s a sign of the corona-times, or of the war with Amazon, this is something that was bound to happen: Two major names in retail that typically occupy giant store spaces, often right near each other, are now working together for local deliveries.
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On October 6, Walmart announced that Home Depot would be the first business to make use of its GoLocal delivery service that just launched in August.
John Furner, president, and CEO, Walmart U.S., said: “We’re excited to welcome The Home Depot as Walmart GoLocal’s first retail client and look forward to helping power their local delivery efforts.”
Stephanie Smith, senior vice president of supply chain for The Home Depot, was also quoted in the announcement explaining the company’s motivation to offer customers this service: “This partnership brings us even closer to our goal of offering same-day or next-day delivery to 90 percent of the U.S. population.”
That figure fits perfectly with the mega-retailer’s 2019 report that states the percentage of Americans whose homes are within 10 miles of a Walmart store. Drawing on the power of such ubiquity, it believes it can provide an efficient delivery service for other stores brands, too, thus bolstering their anti-Amazon offering.
For the Home Depot partnership, It is to be a gradual rollout, beginning only ”in select markets.” However, it is to be extended into locations around the country even before 2022. Perhaps in time for some Xmas shopping?
Just don’t expect to see this delivery option at checkout for your refrigerator or new door. The announcement describes it as being available for things like “tools, fasteners, paint, and other supplies that easily fit in a car.”
It didn’t specify what kind of car.
Home Depot reported tremendous sales growth over the past year, particularly through online customers thinking of ways to improve their homes when we were all staying at indoors a lot more than usual. That may have won them new customers, though it also increased the challenge of getting them their orders conveniently and quickly – which is a critical step in nurturing a long-lasting customer relationship (as we’ve all grown to expect from the Amazon Prime model).
This move should position both brands better when it comes to offering the kind of experience that makes customers want to come back. The challenge of sharing the data from such collaborations and leveraging it for better cross-brand, multichannel, relevant customer communications is surely around the corner.