Walmart in your home? Company to offer in-home grocery deliveries in U.S.

With Walmart’s new service, customers place a grocery delivery order online and then select InHome Delivery and a delivery day at checkout.Walmart workers will use smart entry technology and a proprietary wearable camera to access the customer’s home. That allows shoppers to control access into their home and give them the ability to watch the delivery remotely.

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Walmart said that the workers will go through an extensive training program to prepare them for things like how to select the freshest groceries and how best to organize the refrigerator. Workers need to be with the company for at least one year. Walmart declined to give specifics on the technology. It said that ahead of the launch it will share the fee details for the delivery service, which in addition to fresh food will include grocery essentials such as canned pears and peanut butter.The last mile from a transportation hub to someone’s home has been the key logistical hurdle for delivery services.“Now, we can serve customers not in just the last mile, but in the last 15 feet,” wrote Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce division, in a corporate blog post.WATCH: ‘Porch pirate’ swipes Amazon box filled with cat poop, home owner says Still, while analysts applauded the idea of in-home delivery, they noted challenges.“What remains unclear for us is how much could this cost to roll-out at scale, how much demand will there ultimately be, and how much are consumers willing to pay for the service,” wrote Moody’s vice president Charles O’Shea in a report. “We remain concerned that companies may end up overspending in their development of various delivery options by overestimating the potential demand, though that is a ‘down-the-road’ issue.”

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Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer of Publicis Communications, noted that even with the body cameras, many customers may not trust a stranger into their home. That worry could ease over time, he said.“Getting in a strangers’ car didn’t feel all that safe at first either, yet rideshare companies were able to get enough initial customers and then expand through customers’ changing perceptions,” said Goldberg. “In-home delivery is likely to follow a similar trajectory.”