Walmart to test grocery delivery through Uber, Lyft

OREANDA-NEWS. June 06, 2016. Walmart will soon begin testing a grocery-delivery service through Uber and Lyft as part of an effort to better compete with Amazon.

The retail giant is expected to launch the effort in the next two weeks in Denver and another market, according to a company blog post late Thursday. The second market included in the test wasn't identified, and Walmart representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Amazon has been operating grocery delivery service AmazonFresh in its home city of Seattle since 2007. It has since expanded to New York, Philadelphia, and parts of Northern and Southern California.

After Walmart prepares a customer's order, a driver will be requested from one of the ride-hailing services to deliver the groceries to the customer, Walmart chief operating officer of e-commerce, Michael Bender, wrote in a blog post. Customers will pay Walmart a delivery charge of between \\$7 and \\$10, but pay nothing to the driver, Bender said.

"We'll start small and let our customers guide us, but testing new things like last-mile delivery allow us to better evaluate the various ways we can best serve our customers how, when and where they need us," Bender said in the post, adding that more details will be revealed at the company's shareholder meeting on Friday.

Uber and Lyft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.