Walmart is going to deliver groceries to behind the front door when customers are not at home. Delivery drivers wear a bodycam so customers can watch as they remotely open their front door or garage.
The new service is called Walmart InHome Delivery and will launch in the US before the end of this year, but customers who want to use the delivery service will have to buy a special lock. With this smart lock and a portable camera, the courier gains access to the customer's home. The customer can open the front door remotely and monitor the delivery on camera.
Couriers will place groceries right into the consumer's fridge if desired. According to Walmart, employees go through an extensive training programme so that they treat customers' homes "with the same care and respect as they would treat the home of a friend or relative".
Taking returns
In time, Walmart will also add a return option to InHome Delivery. Customers can leave their Walmart products at the front door or on the kitchen counter for the courier to take away.
InHome Delivery will launch in three cities this autumn: Kansas City (Missouri), Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) and Vero Beach (Florida). There, Walmart has access to over 1 million consumers.
Zalando and bpost
Closer to home, Zalando also tested the potential of delivery to behind the front door. Together with bpost, it held a trial among 750 consumers in the Antwerp area at the end of 2018. Although consumers were enthusiastic, Zalando called the service quite time-consuming and relatively expensive afterwards. "For example, there are a lot of different types of doors. That sounds very basic, but it turned out to be one of the hurdles," the retailer said.
