Here’s how companies can cooperate through a crisis.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) is hiring Walmart (NYSE:WMT) to deliver paint, tools and other online purchases to customers’ doors.
The two retailers announced the partnership Wednesday. The companies declined to share terms of the deal or the length of the contract.
The home improvement retailer is the first retail client to sign up for Walmart’s new delivery business, GoLocal. Walmart launched the business in late August, with plans to attract customers ranging from local stores to national players and make money from last-mile deliveries, similar to a third-party service like Instacart. Deliveries are made by gig economy workers who use Walmart’s delivery platform, Spark Driver.
Walmart will begin the deliveries at select stores in New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas in the next few weeks, and then expand to other markets across the country before year’s end, the two companies’ spokespeople said.
The same-day and next-day delivery service will be limited to items that can easily fit into a car, such as fasteners, boxes of nails or paint brushes. Those that qualify will have that option offered at online checkout.
For Walmart, the delivery business provides a new stream of revenue and a potential way to gather additional insights about consumer purchasing patterns. The big-box retailer has looked beyond retail to drive growth, as it opens health clinics, creates a fintech start-up and ramps up its advertising business.
HD shares plummeted $3.22, or nearly 1%, early Wednesday, to $326.26, while WMT shares gained 17 cents to $136.79.
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