Walmart explains why it offers fewer items for delivery today compared to Amazon

Walmart doesn't seem to match Amazon on the number of items with delivery the next day, and that's why.

The retail giant announced last month, it offers delivery today – without membership fee – for about 220,000 items on the site of customers in Phoenix and Las Vegas first, with plans to expand to reach around 75 percent of US customers by the end of the year. Walmart said it also plans to add hundreds of thousands of items for future delivery.

Walmart's fast delivery is only available for a small selection of merchandise compared to Amazon, which announced last week that Prime members ̵[ads1]1; who pay an annual $ 119 membership fee – will be eligible for free one-day delivery of more than 10 million products.

Despite the big difference, it seems that Walmart doesn't rusher to match Amazon's next day delivery. Walmart e-commerce director Marc Lore said on Friday that the company's annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas would be too expensive to offer today delivery for all its products.

"We probably believe the breadth of the range is critical," says Lore in response to a question. "… We believe the offer reaches 200,000, but growing to hundreds of thousands more represents a very high percentage of what has been done. And if we can offer the next day's experience in a consistent way without membership fees, we believe it is a very convincing proposal of value. »

Lore said it is a" way off "to offer fewer items for next day delivery.

"When you get past the top, say thousands or top million SKUs, overnight or today, it becomes exponentially more expensive," Lore said.

"There is a limited number of dollars and you have to decide where to invest in the value," Lore added. "Are you investing beyond the top 80 percent of sales? Are you speeding up there? Or are you taking these dollars and adding it to daily grocery deliveries?"

Walmart announced on Friday that it took its daily grocery delivery a step further by giving customers the opportunity to have an employee place groceries in their refrigerator when they are not at home. The dealer said the service, called InHome Delivery, will be rolled out this fall for more than a million customers in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Missouri and Vero Beach, Florida.

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However, Amazon said it started offering a day ship on a trove of products in April and will continue to add millions of merchandise, but the exact one the date of complete roll-out of the delivery plan was not disclosed. State members are not required to meet a minimum purchase amount for the new delivery option for the next day. Amazon previously offered one day delivery on selected items and free delivery on the same day for those who booked $ 35 or more.

Walmart customers must meet minimum $ 35 purchase requirements to qualify for delivery the next day.