By Siddharth Cavale
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Walmart Inc on Thursday said it has entered into a partnership with software giant Salesforce to provide its retail customers with store pickup and delivery services using Walmart’s vast transportation network.
Retailers and other small to large sized companies which use Salesforce’s e-commerce platforms to host and manage their websites, will be able to avail Walmart’s GoLocal and Store Assist services as a way to provide faster order pickups and same or next-day deliveries to online customers, the companies said.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Launched in August 2021, GoLocal is Walmart’s delivery-as-a-service business that fulfills last-mile shipping needs for businesses at a lower cost than building out their own network, which can be very capital intensive.
Walmart employees pick up orders from local stores or facilities and deliver them to shoppers’ doorsteps the same day, much like Instacart and DoorDash.
Since its launch GoLocal has completed more than 3 million deliveries so far, Harsit Patel, vice president at Walmart GoLocal said on a media call.
The Salesforce partnership will also give clients who use the company’s “Commerce Cloud” and order management platform access to Store Assist, a Walmart app that helps users manage and track orders and speed up the handing over of online orders to customers or delivery drivers, the companies said.
While adding more revenue streams, the onboarding of more retail clients helps the world’s largest retailer operate its fleet more efficiently. More clients mean higher order volumes, pickup locations and increased route density that lowers costs per order.
The companies declined to comment on the number of customers it hopes to sign under this deal. They also did not disclose whether retailers will have to pay per delivery or order.
“Customer expectations are changing. They are expecting seamless online and in-store experiences from everybody,” Anshu Bhardwaj, senior vice president, technology strategy and commercialization at Walmart Global Technology said on the call.
“This (partnership) helps them move into a digital-led hybrid world much faster.”
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Diane Craft)
