Walmart Opens Local Delivery Service to Other Retailers

Walmart Inc. drivers will soon be making deliveries for other merchants.

The big-box retailer is opening up its in-house delivery platform, Spark Driver, to other businesses so that the independent contractors who are out delivering Walmart groceries and other merchandise can make additional deliveries along the way.

The service, called Walmart GoLocal, offers another way for the retailer to beef up its delivery platform and add more paying pickup and drop-offs while drivers are out. It joins a crowded field of players looking to handle last-mile deliveries, including a similar service called Shipt, which is owned by rival Target Corp.

Last-mile delivery, or the leg of an item’s journey to the ultimate destination, is typically dominated by large networks like FedEx Corp. , United Parcel Service Inc. and the U.S. Postal Service. Their capabilities in same-day delivery are limited, however, as their models are built around accepting packages into their network and then sending them out.

The acceleration of e-commerce delivery has pushed more retailers to look at even speedier delivery options. Amazon.com Inc., for instance, offers same-day delivery on around 3 million items in select areas. Target’s Shipt does same-day deliveries from its stores and others. Other companies like DoorDash Inc., Instacart Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. use gig workers to fulfill orders for all sorts of merchants.