Final-Mile Delivery Developments Heat up, Just in Time for Winter Gifting Season

Winter gifting season kicks off next month with Black Friday on Nov. 26 and Cyber Monday on Nov. 29, and there’s a growing sense that last-mile delivery experiences will be more decisive this year in terms of meeting shoppers’ expectations — or falling short — as seen in some key developments.

With eCommerce package volumes, driver shortages, supply chain disruptions and other variables causing concern, news of the Walmart GoLocal delivery-as-a-service (DaaS) offering adding The Home Depot as its first client shows that the biggest names in retail are serious about new delivery solutions.

In a statement, The Home Depot said it will “offer delivery with Walmart GoLocal in select markets in the coming weeks, with plans to expand to multiple markets across the country by the end of the year.”

Also see: Walmart GoLocal Signs Home Depot as First Retail Client

For its part, Amazon continues expanding its Same-Day Delivery service to new markets, most recently adding Atlanta, Miami and Minneapolis, along with service growth in the Chicago market.

A Faster Final Mile

PYMNTS reported in late September that “Amazon launched Faster Same-Day Delivery more than a year ago, and it now includes Prime members in more than a dozen U.S. cities, who can get their items in as little as five hours.”

As Amazon builds more airport hubs and fulfillment facilities adjacent to major metros to streamline and speed up its deliveries, there may be consumer costs attached. CNN Business recently reported that Amazon Prime members will begin paying a $9.95 fee on Whole Foods deliveries on Oct. 25.

See also: Amazon Adds Same-Day Delivery in Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis

Meanwhile, others are joining forces to compete with the logistics might of the mega-chains. Kroger and Instacart partnered to launch the Kroger Delivery Now service in September.

In a statement, Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen said, “Operationally, this service reaches up to 50 million households, and it’s an expansion of our thriving eCommerce model that demonstrates strategic interplay among our assets, expansive store network, supply chain, and dedicated fulfillment centers and fleet, joined by Instacart’s unrivaled fulfillment model and last-mile technology, to provide our customers with anything, anytime, anywhere without compromise.”

Also see: Kroger, Instacart Launch 30-Minute Convenience Delivery as Consumers Expect Speedy Fulfillment

Necessity vs. Optional

Closing the last-mile delivery gap is an ongoing quest for merchants, and a crucial aspect of consumer satisfaction as eCommerce ordering and delivery becomes dominant in the lives of consumers.

According to PYMNTS’ The Bring-It-to-Me Economy study, for example, “Home delivery has become so ubiquitous in the U.S. that consumers no longer see it as a differentiator, but as a necessity. PYMNTS’ latest research shows that 91% of all consumers in the U.S. have made at least one purchase on Amazon in the past year, and 70% have shopped on another nationally recognized digital marketplace. It also found that 52% ordered groceries via Instacart during that time. It follows that retailers now feel the need to go above and beyond this home delivery benchmark, whether by tightening delivery windows [or] depositing orders in consumers’ garages.”

See also: The Bring-It-to-Me Economy