Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) is testing delivery-by-employees program in a bid to “cut shipping costs and get packages” to customers’ doors “faster and more efficiently.”
Under the program, employees can make some extra income by delivering online orders using their own cars to the customer’s house at the end of their shifts.
Employees “are fully in control of their experience. If they don’t want to participate, they don’t have to. If they choose to opt in, we’ve built technology that allows them to set preferences,” Wal-Mart said in a blog post.
The retailing giant said that employees can choose how many packages they can deliver, the size and weight limits of the packages and which days they are able to make deliveries after work.
“We also allocate packages based on minimizing the collective distance they need to travel off of their commute to make a delivery,” Wal-Mart said.
The company is testing the program at three locations in Arkansas and New Jersey.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) betting on online grocery pickup and two-day free shipping in a bid to compete with Amazon. Online spending is estimated to grow by 16% this year to reach $462 billion, according to EMarketer.
Walmart has 4,700 stores across the U.S. and more than a million retail employees and about 90% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Wal-Mart store.
The retailer is looking to use 4,700 stores and more than a million retail employees to compete with Amazon on the last mile of delivery.
“This last-mile innovation is one of a kind. Unlike crowdsourced delivery, where the driver has to travel (often out of the way) to pick up the package, then drive the full distance to deliver it, our associates [employees] are starting at the same place as the packages. Once they’re done working at the store for the day, they pick up the packages from the backroom, load them into their vehicle, enter the delivery addresses into the GPS on their phone and head toward home,” Wal-Mart said in the blog.
Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) were trading down 0.24% on Friday. The stock is up more than 15% so far this year.
