Using a model that is similar to online retailer Amazon.com (AMZN), Wal-Mart (WMT) is entering the online grocery market via its Sam's Club warehouse store.
In preparation, Sam's Club is increasing the number of non-perishable items it offers, including non-food items like detergents.
The company will deliver the items through parcel service, the same as Amazon.com does, who started their grocery service last year. Amazon.com doesn't offer a breakdown of its numbers as far as the percentage of items related to groceries.
At this time, Sam's will start with between 750-1,000 items, with new products added on a continuous basis.
While Amazon usually offers prices about 30 percent under those in regular supermarkets, Wal-Mart will start off at 5 percent below their prices. Amazon offers free shipping on larger orders.
Amazon, in the meantime, has started to offer perishable goods select neighborhoods in their home town market of Seattle, using a fleet of their own trucks to deliver.
The selling of online groceries hasn't caught on yet in the U.S., like it has in parts of Europe and the UK. It looks like increasing competition will make it only a matter of time before it becomes a part of our lives here.
It's possible Amazon.com's selling of groceries has started to cause some pain to Wal-Marts bottom line, the reason they may be entering the market at this time. That and the overall slowing growth in the U.S. market is causing them to try new and different things.
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» Online Groceries is Finally Upon Us - Wal-Mart Entering Space from TheAlphaMarketer
With the announcement that Wal-Mart (WMT) is about to enter the online grocery market, it looks like years after online grocery sales was expected to happen, it is now finally upon us.Of course most of us know that Amazon.com (AMZN)... [Read More]
Tracked on: October 25, 2007 8:14 PM | Permalink to Trackback