As online grocery shopping goes mainstream, Walmart will be the main beneficiary. One-third of shoppers surveyed by Gordon Haskett Research Advisors on March 13 said they bought food online over the past week, and of those, 41% were doing so for the first time. For those newbies, Walmart was by far the most popular option, capturing more than half of orders. Amazon and its Whole Foods chain garnered only 14%.
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Even so, the retailer hasn’t been immune to the shortages of some staples that have plagued U.S. retailers in recent days. Walmart’s next-day delivery service, which it rolled out last year to match a similar offering from Amazon, is currently unavailable in many regions, while supply of some items like toilet paper varied depending on location. As manufacturers ramp up production, Walmart stands at the front of the queue, given that it sells more of just about everything than any other retailer.
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In recent months, Walmart has opened two health centers that offer a range of medical and mental-health services, all for a flat fee with no insurance required. A third is coming this summer. The company has identified the complex, expensive U.S. health system as a huge business opportunity.
In line with that strategy, the company has said it will make its parking lots available for drive-thru testing in communities impacted by Covid-19 -- the disease caused by the coronavirus -- and is working through those details with the federal government.
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