Walmart Partners With Salesforce To Offer Pickup and Delivery Tech To Retail Clients
Walmart has entered into a deal with tech company Salesforce, giving retail clients access to their pickup and delivery technologies and making use of the retailer’s expansive transportation capabilities.
Starting spring 2023, current Salesforce platform users will be able to use Walmart’s delivery-as-a-service app GoLocal and employee-enablement app Store Assist to expedite delivery and pickup services for online shoppers. The apps will be available to download on Salesforces’ online store for businesses.
Walmart launched GoLocal in 2021 and already counts The Home Depot among its customers. Similarly, the retailer licensed the sale of Store Assist – which boosts employees’ fulfillment and picking efficiency – in the summer of 2022.
Since its launch GoLocal has fulfilled more than 3 million deliveries, said Harsit Patel, vice president at Walmart GoLocal. The partnership with Salesforce will also expand the offering to retailers of all sizes and improve the customer experience, the companies said.
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“Through this partnership, retailers can leverage the same innovative and scalable technologies that power Walmart’s pickup and delivery experiences,” said Anshu Bhardwaj, senior vice president, technology strategy and commercialization, Walmart Global Technology. “The same technology that powers Store Assist has enabled Walmart to fulfill over 830 million orders across over 4,700 Walmart stores. Together with Salesforce, retailers can scale their business and deliver the personalized, convenient experiences shoppers expect.”
The New Fulfillment Tech Frontier
In recent years Walmart has ramped up investment in speedy pickup, BOPIS capabilities and operating their vast delivery fleets more efficiently. In 2022 alone, the retail giant extended their scan and shop tech partnership, revamped their website, added a text to shop capability, and purchased 4,500 all-electric delivery vehicles.
The retailer also reportedly has plans to scale their drone delivery services this year, following a successful roll-out in 2022. Walmart are also drilling down on fulfillment capabilities and, in September 2022, they retailer opened a new fulfillment center in Illinois that modernizes the supply chain, utilizing robotics, machine learning, and automated storage to increase productivity and speed up delivery times.
The partnership is, in some ways, a diversification tactic for Walmart, who have recently witnessed inflation-hit shoppers tightening their belts when it comes to non-essentials such as clothes and electronics.
By increasing sales of these technologies and expanding these capabilities to more retailers, Walmart stands to gain a greater insight into the shopper journey and ultimately boost the bottom line, as well as improving access to the essentials that make up a significant proportion of Walmart’s current sales.
