Walmart Beefs Up Delivery Services As It Takes On Rival Amazon For The Holidays

Walmart (WMT) is looking to do its part to help shoppers this holiday season by expanding its delivery services.

The retail giant, which has committed to 24/7 operations at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in California as announced by the Biden Administration to reduce the backlog of container ships, will beef up its delivery offerings to assist customers in getting their purchases in time for the holidays.

Walmart is extending its delivery hours to 10 p.m. – an increase of two hours – for customers who place orders by 6 p.m. for same-day or next-day delivery. Additional time will also be given for shoppers to amend their online orders for last-minute revisions to purchases, the retailer said.

More delivery times are also being added for shoppers for local delivery through the Spark Driver app in the Shopping and Delivery feature. Service providers now have the option to shop and deliver customers’ orders even if the existing delivery timeframe is full.

Customers can pay $7.95 to $9.95 for one-time delivery and a $10 fee for delivery in two hours or less using Express delivery. Walmart+ members receive unlimited free delivery.

Walmart+ memberships cost $98 a year and $12.95 a month. Walmart+ members pay $10 for Express delivery.

To give customers more options, Walmart has also expanded the delivery of oversized items from more than 2,800 stores for local delivery. This includes home delivery of bicycles, 70-inch TVs, artificial Christmas trees, and other large items that were previously banned from one-day shipping with the company.

More stores are also offering pickup and delivery options for alcohol purchases. A total of 2,000 Walmart locations now offer alcohol pickup and nearly 200 stores across California and Florida make deliveries.

Walmart will be closed on Thanksgiving Day but will resume operations at 12 p.m. on Nov. 26.

The retailer has kicked off its Black Friday 2021 deals with a three-event sale that started on Monday. The sale is broken into three events which will run throughout the entire month of November.

Event 1 is slated to begin online Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. ET and in stores on Nov. 5 at 5 p.m. local time. Walmart+ members have early online access at Walmart.com on Nov. 3 from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. ET.

Event 2 is scheduled for Nov. 10 at 7. p.m. ET online and in stores on Nov. 12 at 5 p.m. local time. Walmart+ member access starts Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. ET online.

As of Thursday premarket hours, shares of Walmart were trading at $145.89, down 11 cents, or 0.08%.