Bentonville, Ark.
–
Walmart
will begin a national rollout this month of its Pick Up Today service, which
allows customers to purchase items online and receive free same-day pickup at a
local Walmart store.
Online orders are usually
ready for pickup in about four hours, and orders placed after 6 p.m. are ready
for pickup at 10 a.m. the next day.
The discounter presently
offers Site to Store, a five-year-old service that ships online orders for free
to a local Walmart store within four to seven days.
Site to Store covers tens
of thousands of SKUs, most of which are unavailable in stores, while the new
Pick Up Today service will eventually expand to include up to 40,000 items,
including CE, household appliances and video games. The program is expected to
be available at Walmart’s 3,600 flagship stores nationwide by June.
“Walmart is uniquely
positioned to combine the power of e-commerce with our national retail
footprint to offer a leading, multichannel experience that delivers the best
savings and convenience to our customers,” said Steve Nave, senior VP and
general manager of Walmart.com. “We’ve seen strong customer response from
initial tests of Pick Up Today, and we’re pleased to expand the program to
customers nationwide in the coming months.”
The retailer is also
testing a FedEx Site to Store program in metro markets without a Walmart
presence that allows customers to order online and ship products free to a
FedEx Office location.
