Walmart GoLocal delivery as a service business goes live

Walmart has launched a white label service, Walmart GoLocal, that uses its logistics network to deliver products for other retailers.

“In an era where customers have come to expect speed and reliability, it’s more important than ever for businesses to work with a service provider that understands a merchant’s needs,” says John Furner, President and CEO, Walmart U.S.

“We have spent years building and scaling commerce capabilities that support our network of more than 4,700 stores and we look forward to helping other businesses have access to the same reliable, quality and low cost services.”

Today we announced Walmart GoLocal, a new venture that uses our scale and last-mile infrastructure to offer local delivery to businesses of all kinds. Read more: https://t.co/Zakg5cZg9v pic.twitter.com/k0aKwGxp40
— Walmart Inc. (@WalmartInc) August 24, 2021

The offering will generate some excitement only to then limp along, according to Brittain Ladd, a former Amazon exec and supply chain consultant.

“As with all of Walmart’s press releases, the verbiage used to describe GoLocal is heavy on the syrup while leaving out key details. For example, should any retailer allow Walmart to gain such valuable information about their business?” Ladd says in a LinkedIn post.

Walmart created the GoLocal programme as it knows that Amazon is in the process of applying its AWS model to its global logistics network, Ladd argues.

“Amazon is already operating as a hybrid 3PL in the United Kingdom, and has every intention of selling its logistics services on the open market. How do I know this? My first job at Amazon was working on a team that designed the strategy for Amazon to become a hybrid global 3PL.”

In many ways, GoLocal is just one more in a long line of examples of what Ladd refers to as a Walmart “We Too” moment.

“Amazon has drones? We do too!! Amazon has a Prime programme? We do too and it’s called Walmart+!! Amazon is going to become a 3PL? We are too!!!” he states.

“This constant copying and following of what Amazon does is indicative of a big problem that Walmart doesn’t seem to want to address - Walmart needs a new CEO. GoLocal? Why not acquire FedEx and Shopify by partnering with Berkshire Hathaway to make it happen? Why not reimagine the entire retail industry and leapfrog Amazon? Why not merge with The Home Depot?”

“Why not place all of your focus on groceries which generates 55% of your corporate revenue, and divest your remaining retail business to a PE firm for hundreds of billions of dollars? Sounds crazy, right? Is it?”

Amazon is within striking distance of becoming larger than Walmart. Ladd believes that GoLocal isn’t a game changer.

“Walmart+ isn’t enough. The time has come to realise that you need a new CEO, and new executives in other key roles as well. I strongly advise the board of directors at Walmart to hire a CEO from outside the company.”

Ladd adds: “I don’t dislike Walmart and I want the company to succeed. However, we cannot overlook the fact that it has never come up with a programme or strategy that has disrupted Amazon.”

He concludes: “As painful as it may be Walmart, the time has come to disrupt yourself.”

“The time has come to hire a CEO who leads with, why?; crushes all assumptions about the future; and who questions everything about Walmart’s current state in order to create a future state whereby Walmart leads in retail and other industries. Think Walmart can’t fail? False.”