Wal-Mart Buys Logistics Company With Focus on Same-Day Delivery

Wal-Mart has acquired the same-day delivery service Parcel, as it continues to focus on getting orders to customers’ front doors more quickly. Brooklyn-based Parcel offers evening deliveries and can handle perishable and frozen foods. According to Wal-Mart, Parcel has partnerships with several meal-kit and grocery companies. This is the latest move in Wal-Mart's battle with Amazon.com over delivery. Last month, the big-box chain revealed plans for a pilot grocery-delivery program in which drivers bring food inside customers’ homes and put the perishables directly into their refrigerators.

Total Retail's Take: The battle wages on. Wal-Mart is playing catch up in terms of its logistics capabilities when compared to the recognized industry leader in this area, Amazon, but it certainly can't be faulted for its lack of effort. The brick-and-mortar chain is pulling out all the stops to ensure online shoppers view ordering from Walmart.com, whether it be groceries or other merchandise, to be as easy and convenient (i.e., fast delivery) as it is from its chief competitor, Amazon. The Parcel acquisition represents the latest in a string of investments and programs that Wal-Mart has launched to win the favor of digital, need-it-now consumers, including leveraging its in-store staff to deliver online orders to customers on their way home from work.