Walmart Inc said on Thursday it has teamed up with U.S. home delivery company Instacart to bring some Canadian customers same-day grocery deliveries, raising the stakes in the country's hotly contested retail space.
Walmart's Canada unit said the service, which is part of a pilot program with Instacart, will be available in the Greater Toronto Area from Sept. 13, while customers in Winnipeg can start availing the service later this month.
Like in the United States, retailers in Canada have been facing stiff competition from Amazon.com Inc, pushing a lot of them to invest in online sales and home delivery.
Last November, Canadian grocery and pharmacy chain Loblaw Cos Ltd teamed up with Instacart to offer home delivery service in Toronto and Vancouver.
Startup Instacart counts Whole Foods, Costco , Target and more than 100 other retailers as customers for grocery deliveries, and charges a delivery fee for its service.
Nike Rollout
Elsewhere, Walmart-owned Jet.com has said that it will it will sell Nike Inc products and offer more delivery options, beginning in its top market of New York City, in a bid to sharpen its aim for affluent, urban consumers and better compete with e-commerce rivals like Amazon.com Inc .
Walmart Inc acquired Jet for $3.3 billion in August 2016, a deal that was widely considered a watershed moment for its then-struggling e-commerce operation as it got access to both technology and talent through Jet founder Marc Lore and his team.
"We both had a keen interest in serving that urban affluent customer," said Jet's chief customer officer, David Echegoyen. The relationship with Nike, scheduled for kick-off in October, would "bring customers on Jet a set of everything," he added.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
