{"id":338135,"date":"2017-04-12T12:01:08","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T04:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1475553"},"modified":"2017-04-12T12:01:08","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T04:01:08","slug":"walmart-to-lower-prices-on-a-million-online-only-items-if-you-opt-for-store-pickup-over-shipping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/walmart-to-lower-prices-on-a-million-online-only-items-if-you-opt-for-store-pickup-over-shipping\/","title":{"rendered":"Walmart to lower prices on a million online-only items if you opt for store pickup over shipping"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Walmart.com is preparing to launch a new feature called \u201cPickup Discount\u201d that will lower the prices on, soon, up to one million online-only items if the customer chooses to pick up their order at a local store instead of opting for shipping. The feature is said to be inspired by the Smart Cart technology developed by Jet.com, the e-commerce startup\u00a0Walmart acquired for $3 billion last year.<\/a><\/p>\n

Jet.com\u2019s Smart Cart system offers\u00a0a variety of ways shoppers can\u00a0save on their purchases. In some cases, it\u00a0highlights items that can ship together for less, through an integrated understanding of the underlying logistics relating to where items are\u00a0warehoused and proximity to the customer. Jet may also incentivize customers to waive their right to return or use a particular payment method to bring the prices down.<\/p>\n

At the root of the system is\u00a0the idea that Jet could understand where the costs are in e-commerce, be transparent about those costs with consumers, then pass the savings along\u00a0at checkout when the customer takes\u00a0advantage of the Smart Cart system.<\/p>\n

That same spirit of transparency is Walmart\u2019s goal with its Pickup Discount option, which starts on April 19 across Walmart.com.<\/p>\n

Initially, the feature will be available on around 10,000 online-only items \u2014 meaning those that aren\u2019t sold in stores, but that have to be shipped to either a store or a customer directly. By the end of June 2017, Walmart says the discount will reach more than 1 million of the site\u2019s most popular items, excluding those sold by its third-party marketplace.<\/p>\n

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In some cases, the discount will be only a few dollars, but for larger items it could be even more. For example, the\u00a0Britax B-SAFE 35 Infant Car Seat, Slate Strie<\/a>,\u00a0which is $148.05 online, will have an additional Pickup Discount of $7.40 ($140.65 is the new price). But for the\u00a0VIZIO SmartCast M-Series 70\u2033 Class 4K Ultra HDTV (M70-D3)<\/a>, which costs\u00a0$1,698, the Pickup Discount is\u00a0$50, bringing it to $1648.<\/p>\n

The discount will be highlighted on the product\u2019s detail page, when available.<\/p>\n

Pickup Discount is meant to leverage Walmart\u2019s existing delivery\u00a0network, which includes a fleet of more than 6,700 trucks delivering products from its 4,700 fulfillment centers. Simply put, it costs Walmart less to ship to its stores than to its customers.<\/p>\n

However, Walmart says\u00a0that it\u2019s not lowering prices in an effort to boost its own bottom line. Whatever it saves, it\u2019s giving back to the customer, is the claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really meant to be neutral with respect to the financials of Walmart, with all the benefit being passed on to the customer,\u201d notes\u00a0Walmart\u2019s e-commerce head Marc Lore, previously founder of Jet.com. \u201cOur view is that we don\u2019t \u00a0want this to be necessarily a more profitable channel than e-commerce. The idea is that there\u2019s a certain profitability in the e-comm channel, and to the extent that we could\u00a0save money relative to that, we\u2019d share that with customers \u2014 that\u2019s how we\u2019re thinking about it,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

That said, the launch of the new discount option could help Walmart bring online prices down even further, which ultimately aids in its battle with Amazon. If its top-selling items can be bought for less than elsewhere, that could help to increase sales. On the customer\u2019s side, pickup is not as difficult as it would be with other e-commerce retailers \u2014 there is a Walmart store within 10 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population.<\/p>\n

Today, customers have to go inside the Walmart store to\u00a0pick up their items, but Walmart has been developing a curbside pickup option for grocery orders. Its Online Grocery Pickup service is now in 600 stores, with 500 more coming this year. It wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see Walmart offer curbside for some of the smaller online sales in the future, given that most of the kinks have already been worked out \u2014 ranging from staffing to alerts to even the parking spaces needed to serve the pickup customers.<\/p>\n

In the near term, though, Walmart has been testing a \u201cPickup Tower,\u201d<\/a> which it likens to a vending machine for online orders. Inside a giant, in-store tower are tons of packages that customers retrieve using their order number. The retailer says the test of Pickup Tower has been successful, so it\u2019s rolling it out to additional\u00a0locations in the months ahead. (Walmart declined to share\u00a0how many, but there is one in Rogers, Arkansas to start.)<\/p>\n

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Following\u00a0the launch of Pickup Discount, Lore says other Jet.com-inspired savings features will also make their way over to Walmart.com, but declined to offer specifics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to come in pieces over time,\u201d Lore says, speaking as to how Smart Cart will make its way to Walmart.com. \u201cIt\u2019s not all going to happen at once \u2014 just elements and pieces of it that are going to hit,\u201d he adds, saying more features are expected to arrive in\u00a0\u201cthe next few months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickup Discount is going live in all stores \u2014 more than 4,000 total locations \u2014 in the contiguous U.S. later this month.<\/p>\n

Image credits: Walmart; Walmart.com; Field Agent via Business Insider<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Featured Image: Walmart<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Walmart.com is preparing to launch a new feature called “Pickup Discount” that will lower the prices on up to one million online-only items if the customer chooses to pick up their order at a local store instead of opting for shipping. The feature is said to be inspired by the Smart Cart technology developed by Jet.com, the e-commerce startup Walmart acquired for $3 billion last year. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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