Democratizing instant gratification? What Walmart's GoLocal means for the retail industry.

There is a very strong message that one can interpret from the big move from Walmart announcing GoLocal, a last-mile delivery service for other retailers. The delivery experience is about to get better more by collaboration rather than competition.?

What is GoLocal??

To put it simply, Walmart GoLocal is poised to be a top white-label delivery service provider and furthers the retailer’s strategy to build alternative revenue streams and profit pools.

To understand this better, we need to look at a series of events before and after the COVID’19 pandemic.?

As much as I’d not like to think too much about the pandemic, there’s really no way I can manage to touch upon this topic without talking about it. Most retailers were caught off-guard with the demand for home deliveries. As per a report, Walmart saw a 300% spike in pickup and deliveries. What’s interesting to note is that they set out to build capabilities around home deliveries way back in 2016 with their acquisition of Jet.com, an e-commerce startup. They officially launched home deliveries from Walmart stores in 2018. In 2020, they also launched their fulfillment services to combat marketplace-focused sites (Amazon and the likes). While the demand peaked for online deliveries in 2020 (due to the pandemic),? they had to expand delivery slot capacities by about 40% within a very short time. This led to Walmart building a very robust platform to manage deliveries that is capable of withstanding demand spikes.?

While it has taken a good 5 years, Walmart has managed to achieve an enviable amount of delivery readiness. Their in-house delivery arm has reached a point of maturity where it is ready to be turned into a B2B market offering to other retailers. A white-labeled delivery service that would empower any and every retailer with the ability to execute deliveries cost-effectively.?

However, is the market ready for such an offering??

What about currently existing aggregator platforms such as Postmates, Doordash?

Instant gratification democratized

Consumer attitudes have gone through a complete shift towards online delivery. Delivery readiness is a mandatory need for every retailer irrespective of size or scale. This isn’t easy to achieve or build in-house. Let us not forget that it has taken 5 years for the world’s largest retailer to build these capabilities in-house. Without having much of a choice, both retailers and consumers relied on third-party aggregator platforms such as Doordash, Postmates and that comes with its own baggage of challenges and advantages.?

While these platforms were very effective in handling the demand spike triggered by the pandemic, there were also downsides in terms of hefty convenience fees, higher markup prices, and most importantly customer experience. This led to a silent but massive need for reliable delivery service that retailers could place their bets on. GoLocal addresses this market need and democratizes delivery-readiness for the industry.?

An Android moment in deliveries?

The biggest impact of building a brand name is building trust even when one hasn’t had a first-hand experience. We don’t ‘search’ anymore. We ‘google’ everything! There’s a huge emotional difference between saying ‘Let’s go shopping!’ and ‘Let’s go to Walmart!’.?

This is the exact same reason why nobody second-guessed when a book-seller became an ‘A to Z Everything store’ and launched a mainstream video streaming platform successfully. The power of a brand lets it tread uncharted territory with an unbelievable amount of comfort. Getting acceptance becomes easy and trust comes as part of the package.?

When you can use the brand that has been built over the years for a higher purpose that benefits the industry, it paves way for a better world. The smartphone revolution started with Apple and we know how it changed the world. Although Amazon started the game of deliveries, it is much like Apple in its ability to stay tight and largely aspirational as an ecosystem.?

With GoLocal, it wouldn’t be unfair to say, the delivery ecosystem has found its Android equivalent. A platform that any retailer can leverage to benefit their consumers by offering deliveries. By leaving delivery logistics woes to GoLocal, retailers have a chance to do what best they do - focus on the consumer! All of this comes within their reach with sensitive pricing.

During the 2020 holiday season, an estimated 3 billion packages coursed through the United States’ shipping infrastructure. This was nothing short of a nightmare for retailers struggling to manage the demand. Disruptive delivery services such as GoLocal and delivery orchestration platforms are a boon to retailers at this critical point in time where every retailer, irrespective of size or scale is facing the need to rebuild their infrastructure with the online buyer at the center.?

The future

The future is all about fostering collaboration rather than intense competition.?

With the launch of GoLocal to empower the industry, Walmart has opened new revenue streams to its own business, and that too from other retailers that are conventionally positioned as smaller rivals. This is norm-changing because it is rather uncommon to see an industry-leading retailer enabling other retailers. The motive here goes beyond conventional areas of focus such as quarterly profits and is an intelligent way to set up new revenue streams. All of this while making the delivery experience better for consumers.?

The future road-map for GoLocal has some disruptive technologies which include deliveries using self-driving cars, electric vehicles, and drones which will further push the limits of the delivery experience for consumers. With the drone delivery market growing at a CAGR of 53%, the timing couldn’t be better to start the journey. Strategic partnerships with electric vehicle and drone companies, startup acquisitions, and other technology partners that enable these innovations are key drivers of this journey. Clearly, there is a lot of focus on sustainability which is becoming an industry norm.?

I am personally excited as an entrepreneur and an industry observer to see these disruptions unfold and we, at FarEye believe strongly that consumers are entitled to a delightful delivery experience. Any industry change that is in this direction reinforces the belief that we have and makes us strive harder to make deliveries better for everyone .?

What does this mean for Walmart?

Could this be Walmart’s strategy to beat threats from the largest e-commerce retailer in the world? How do you see this impacting or inspiring other retail giants ? Let me know in the comments.?