Wal-Mart has started Wal-Mart To Go, a new online grocery delivery service. It’s currently in the testing phase and only being offered in San Jose, California.
The company is trying to compete with other online grocery services such as Peapod and Fresh Direct, and is offering low prices with delivery charges that start at only five dollars.
“I don’t think I’d ever order my groceries online because I like to see it. If I was ordering apples I’d want to pick them out myself and also I don’t always know what I want when I go,” said studio art major Anna Burden.
A 64-ounce carton of Horizon milk was $3.50 on Wal-Mart’s site as opposed to it costing $4.29 on Fresh Direct. Wal-Mart is offering “fresh produce, meat and seafood, frozen, bakery, baby, over-the-counter pharmacy, household supplies, and health and beauty items,” according to the website.
Wal-Mart is the biggest grocer in the country, holding about 33 percent of the market in the United States, according to estimates from Janney Capital Markets. Groceries also make up over half of Wal-Mart’s revenue in America.
“I feel like it could be good for Wal-Mart like the elderly or disabled who can’t really leave their house would use the service,” said Burden.
It has also been expanding its online options; Wal-Mart now allows customers to order merchandise, not food, online and pick it up at their local store. This program’s goal is to get shoppers to go into stores more often, and their new grocery system is a more convenient way to buy from Wal-Mart when you can’t get into a store.
“I think it’ll work for them because Wal-Mart is already so known by people and they’re a trusted brand so if people don’t feel like going to the store I think they’ll still feel comfortable ordering from them online,” said freshman sociology and family science major Esme Moskowitz.