Walmart Amps Up Delivery Ahead of the Holidays

In a move to boost delivery flexibility—and be able to come to the rescue of customers who realize they don't have a need-it-now ingredient or gift—Walmart is expanding delivery hours and the assortment of items available for delivery ahead of the holidays. 

Delivery from Walmart stores will now be available two additional hours, until 10 p.m. local time, with customers now able to place online orders until 6 p.m. for same-day or next-day delivery. In a blog post for the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer, Walmart SVP of Last Mile Tom Ward added that Walmart also is extending the time shoppers have to amend their online order after it's placed.

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The universe of items customers can choose for local same-day delivery is growing, too: Oversized items such as big-screen TVs, bicycles and artificial Christmas trees now are eligible, and Walmart has expanded its number of stores offering online alcohol orders for pickup to 3,000 and for delivery to 1,500.

"Ultimately, we’re giving customers more of what they need—more time, more availability and more items—so they have more time for what they want," Ward wrote. 

Further on the capacity front, a new feature on Walmart's Spark Driver crowd-sourced delivery app gives drivers the option to shop and deliver customers' orders, potentially adding overflow delivery capacity in the event that existing delivery time frames are full. 

All Walmart U.S. locations will be closed Thanksgiving Day and will resume pickup and delivery from stores at 12 p.m. Friday, Nov. 26.