Walmart Drops $35 Minimum Order on its Express Delivery Service

Walmart is lifting the $35 minimum order required to use its Express Delivery service, which brings items to customers in less than two hours. Express Delivery allows customers to order items from Walmart’s food, consumables and general merchandise assortment such as produce, pantry staples, everyday essentials, toys and electronics, and is currently offered in 3,000 Walmart stores. Express orders are capped at 65 items. Walmart's Express Delivery fee typically costs $10 on top of a standard delivery fee, ranging from $7.95 or $9.95, but Walmart waives the delivery fee if users subscribe to its Walmart Plus subscription.

Walmart said it removed the minimum at the request of customers. "Customers told us sometimes the items they needed in a hurry didn’t meet the minimum, so we’re removing it," said Tom Ward, Walmart's senior vice president of customer product, "making it even easier for customers to get what they need when they need it." Walmart's other delivery services — Pickup, Delivery, and Free Delivery with Walmart Plus — continue to carry a $35 minimum.

Total Retail's Take: Yesterday's Walmart news puts the retailer on better footing to compete with Amazon’s Prime Now, a service that similarly offers a combination of grocery and other daily essentials and merchandise. Currently, Prime Now’s two-hour service has a minimum order requirement of $35 without additional fees. Indeed, Walmart is slowly but surely catching up to the convenience offered by Amazon.com. Walmart, for example, last December dropped a similar $35 minimum order requirement for its Walmart Plus free next-day and two-day shipping perk, which put Walmart Plus on par with Amazon Prime. The retailer has also been expanding its grocery delivery options to better compete with Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods, both of which have been Amazon’s footholds into real-world commerce.

“Walmart continues to raise the bar against Amazon when it comes to the customer experience," said Meyar Sheik, chief commerce officer, Kibo. "Removing the $35 minimum makes it even more compelling for its 150 million customers to shop more product categories from Walmart, as well as shop with it more frequently. This move also narrows the gap between Walmart (Plus) and Amazon Prime, as it delivers more value to Walmart shoppers while potentially luring Amazon Prime members who see convenience and benefit from shopping at Walmart.com or from one its 5,300 stores across the U.S."