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Walmart Grocery's Amazon Prime Now rival costs $98 per year
Walmart knows that it needs to have a stellar delivery service in order to compete with Amazon, which is why it's been rolling out Prime-like offers of its own. For Walmart Grocery, in particular, there's Delivery Unlimited: a subscription service that costs $13 a month or $98 a year. It's not entirely clear how long the delivery subscription has been around and if it's already live nationwide. TechCrunch has discovered an FAQ page talking about some pertinent details, though, including a line that says "There's a good chance Delivery Unlimited is in your area."
Walmart's new delivery service will put groceries directly in your fridge
Having groceries delivered to your home is convenient, but if taking food from the front door to the kitchen is too much hassle, then Walmart has a solution. It is launching a new service, InHome Delivery, which involves a representative placing groceries directly in your fridge.
Walmart has more than 120 ultra-fast EV charging stations in 34 states
Walmart has come a long way since it unveiled plans to add Electrify America chargers to its stores. The big-box retailer now has over 120 of the VW-backed fast EV charging stations across its stores, giving drivers in 34 states a way to top up while they're shopping. There are plans to continue expanding, too. Neither partner said how many more stations were coming, but Reuters sources claimed that 180 more stations were coming before the end of 2019.
Walmart takes on Amazon Prime with free, next-day deliveries
Walmart has introduced its answer to Amazon's one-day shipping for Prime subscribers. The retail giant's NextDay delivery offering is rolling out in Phoenix and Las Vegas today, May 14th, and will be available for online customers in Southern California over the next few days. It's more of a curated shopping experience than an option shoppers can choose for any item on Walmart's website. But so long as they find the products they'e looking for among the 220,000 items listed on the portal, Walmart's might even be a better deal than Prime's. It's free and requires no membership, after all -- they just need to meet a $35 minimum order.
Vudu's first original shows will include interactive titles (updated)
The rumors were true: Vudu will offer original shows, including a few with twists. Vudu confirmed at a presentation that it would introduce a variety of exclusive programming, including "interactive content" produced with the help of the startup Eko. While the streaming service didn't delve into specifics, it promised a mix of genres like comedy, drama and thrillers when the interactive material arrived later in the year.
Walmart is getting ready to announce ad-friendly Vudu originals
Walmart is reportedly developing at least six original series for its Vudu streaming service. It's set to reveal a few of them to advertisers at a presentation this week. According to Bloomberg, it's been in talks with studios to reboot old family-friendly shows.
Walmart's AI-based store concept is open to the public
Walmart isn't going to let Amazon's AI-powered stores go unanswered, although it's not exactly cloning the concept. The big-box chain has unveiled a publicly accessible concept store, the Intelligent Retail Lab (IRL for short), in Levittown, New York. The location uses computer vision and a vast array of cameras not to handle purchases, like Amazon Go does, but to help employees restock empty shelves and corral shopping carts. There are still checkout lines and floor staff, Walmart notes -- this is meant to minimize drudgery for workers and free them for tasks "humans can do best," like helping customers.
Walmart battles online retail by adding more robots to its stores
Brick and mortar stores have been hit hard by online retailers like Amazon. Walmart (which has its own online presence) believes it has an answer to dwindling sales. Its solution, robots that take care of mundane jobs (like cleaning up spills) while its staff spends their time helping customers.
Walmart to offer online grocery shopping with Google Assistant
Walmart customers once again will be able to voice-order their groceries with Google Assistant, another bid by the brick-and-mortar store to compete with Amazon. The retailer announced the partnership on Tuesday, and said it would gradually roll out the feature in the next few weeks. The development comes after Walmart unceremoniously left Google Express, Google's online shopping tool, back in January, reportedly to develop its own Google Assistant shopping feature.
Sam’s Club Now lets you scan whole items, not just barcodes
If you've been to a Sam's Club in the past two years, you might have used Scan & Go. The store's app lets you use your phone to scan the barcode of each item you put in your cart. When you're ready to check out, you can pay via the app and show your digital receipt to a store associate before leaving. Now, Sam's Club plans to make Scan & Go shopping even easier.
Walmart's same-day grocery delivery hits another snag
Walmart's same-day grocery delivery service has hit a snag. The giant retailer had partnered with Google-backed logistics company Deliv to get orders to customers' front doors, but the two companies are parting ways after Deliv served Walmart with a termination notice, according to Reuters.
Google Express no longer works with Walmart
Walmart products are no longer available through Google Express, Google's online shopping tool. It's not clear when the change occurred, but Google Express confirmed via Twitter earlier this week that it is no longer offering products available through Walmart on its platform.
Walmart reportedly ditches planned streaming service to focus on Vudu
Walmart has abandoned its plans to launch a new streaming video service, according to a report from CNBC. Instead of throwing resources behind a new product, the company will instead focus its attention on expanding its existing video platform Vudu. In response to the report, Walmart told Variety that Vudu is its focus but "to say that we aren't thinking about different ideas often would be false."
Walmart will offer autonomous grocery deliveries in Arizona
Walmart is expanding its experiments with self-driving grocery deliveries courtesy of a new trial in Surprise, Arizona. In the wake of its partnership with Ford, the retailer's latest pilot will use startup Udelv's autonomous cargo vans "custom-made" for food drop-offs.
Walmart opens its first online store in Japan
Walmart has opened its first online store in Japan with the help of local e-commerce giant Rakuten. Over 1,200 items will be available to Japanese customers on the "Walmart Rakuten Ichiba Store," including clothing, outdoor items and toys from US brands. It marks the latest step in the duo's strategic alliance, announced in January, which also spans an online grocery delivery service in Japan and the sale of e-readers, audiobooks and e-books from Rakuten-owned Kobo in the US.
Walmart buys Art.com to take on Amazon in home decor
Walmart announced that it is planning to acquire Art.com, a major online retailer of art and wall decor. The art seller will continue to operate as a standalone online storefront, but some of the platform's more than two million products will be available through Walmart.com, Jet and Hayneedle. Walmart hasn't said if it will carry Art.com products in its physical stores.
Ford and Walmart to partner on self-driving deliveries
Self-driving car collaborations are becoming increasingly commonplace. The latest team-up comes from Ford and Walmart -- two older-world companies using autonomous tech to combat nascent startup rivals and remain relevant in an ever-changing landscape. The eventual goal is to bring Walmart shopping items to customers in a self-driving Ford with the help of Postmates' delivery infrastructure. Initially, however, the venture will rely on human-driven cars designed to simulate how a self-driving vehicle would operate.
Amazon drops its free-shipping minimum for the holidays
Amazon is making rivals like Walmart sweat a bit more over the holidays by offering free shipping with no minimum purchase to everyone. The company announced that it's waiving the usual $25 minimum fee required for non-Prime customers in a US-only promotion -- the first time it's done that, according to Reuters. The deal is effective starting today, and will last until just before Christmas, when Amazon can no longer promise free delivery in time for Christmas.
Walmart's homegrown gaming PCs are surprisingly good
Walmart is getting into the gaming PC business. The retailer has announced an exclusive line of three laptops and three desktop towers under the name Overpowered -- and the specs are actually pretty good. The machines, available only from Walmart, have been designed in partnership with Esports Arena.
Walmart will open an Amazon Go-style Sam’s Club store
Walmart is continuing to copy pages from the Amazon playbook, this time with a version of its Sam's Club warehouse store where shoppers can check out by using their phones. The store, which takes some obvious influence from Amazon Go stores, will open up in Dallas under the name Sam's Club Now.
