Benzinga | Aug 24, 2021 05:04AM EDT

Walmart Now Offers Last-Mile Delivery Service To Other Businesses

Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) is opening its in-house delivery platform to others merchants for their last-mile deliveries, tapping a segment dominated by FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) and United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS).

What Happened: The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer's new service, Walmart GoLocal, will be open for businesses of all sizes to get their goods delivered to customers. Walmart will deploy its in-house delivery platform to allow independent contractors who are out delivering Walmart groceries and other merchandise to make additional deliveries as well.

Walmart GoLocal will join a host of other rivals, including the one from Target Corp (NYSE:TGT)'s Shipt, which also handles last-mile deliveries.

See Also: Is 'A Day Of Reckoning' Coming For FedEx, UPS?

Why It Matters: FedEx and UPS usually have strong last-mile delivery networks but more players are mushrooming with the same delivery capabilities, including e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), which offers faster options.

Target's Shipt does same-day deliveries from its stores and others. Others such as DoorDash Inc (NYSE:DASH) and Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) employ gig workers to fulfill orders for different merchants.

Price Action: Walmart shares closed 0.72% lower at $150.45 on Monday.

Photo: Walmart Corporate via Wikimedia