Walmart is now partnering with Bringg, a Chicago-based delivery logistics tech platform, to give its shoppers last-mile grocery delivery in a pilot program called Spark Delivery, an extension of the retailer’s grocery delivery service, which launched earlier this year.
Spark Delivery is a crowd-sourced delivery platform that provides drivers with the ability to sign up for delivery windows that work best for them. The platform then gives delivery drivers each shoppers’ grocery order details and navigation to their homes.
Components of the platform are powered by Bringg, such as its ability to optimize driver schedules and automatically dispatch orders. Bringg, founded in 2013, raised $12 million in venture capital funding earlier this year. The startup helps companies digitize their supply chain to help create a more efficient delivery ecosystem across industries. Besides Walmart, some of their other clients include Coca-Cola, Panera Bread and tech-forward manufacturing company Hilti.
“We’re saving customers time by leveraging new technology, and connecting all the parts of our business into a single seamless shopping experience,” said Walmart’s President and CEO Greg Foran in a statement. “Spark Delivery is one way we’re exploring how to get quality groceries from our door to our customers’ doors.”
Walmart’s grocery delivery service is available in nearly 50 markets, including Chicago, Miami and Seattle. But Spark Delivery is currently only being piloted in Nashville and New Orleans, though Walmart says it has plans to expand it into a few more metro areas later this year.
Delivery costs $9.95 and shoppers must order a minimum of $30 in merchandise. Walmart, which is based in Bentonville, Arkansas, employs more than 25,000 personal shoppers, up from 18,000 earlier this year.
