Wal-Mart to bring free same-day shipping to Big Apple

Wal-Mart is working on free same-day delivery as it steps up its battle with Amazon for the hearts and minds of ever demanding multi-channel customers.

The $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com last year brought e-commerce heavy hitter Marc Lore to Wal-Mart. The retailer then began offering free two-day shipping on orders over $35 and expanded its online inventory from 10 million items to approximately 67 million.

Wal-Mart goes last mile with Parcel

At an advertising conference last week, meanwhile, Lore revealed that Jet.com is currently offering free same-day shipping in New York, and that Wal-Mart would follow suit. It recently purchased Brooklyn-based logistics startup, Parcel, to help it do this.

“We plan to leverage Parcel for last mile delivery to customers in New York City, including same-day delivery, for both general merchandise as well as fresh and frozen groceries from Walmart and Jet,” the company said in a blog post.

The move follows on from Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, which has a large presence in New York.