REUTERS: Walmart Inc is testing whether independent drivers could deliver its groceries as the retailer races to meet its goal of offering home delivery to more than 100 U.S. cities by the end of the year.The pilot program called Spark Delivery is similar to Amazon Flex, a service from rival Amazon.com Inc where a fleet of drivers use their own cars to make fast deliveries.Walmart's Spark Delivery is a crowdsourced platform, which works with independent drivers who partner with Delivery Drivers Inc, a separate firm that manages such workers.The initiative is Walmart's latest attempt to tackle one of the biggest challenges in retail: the so-called "last mile" of delivering goods to online customers. Despite having 4,700 U.S. stores within 10 miles (16 km) of 90 percent of the U.S. population, the Bentonville, Arkansas based retailer is still trying to figure out how to efficiently make deliveries and has poured billions of dollars into ecommerce in recent years.Walmart is the largest … [Read more...] about Walmart trials grocery delivery to rival Amazon Flex
Groceries delivered seattle
In aisle 10, a touch of grocery innovation
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By Kim Severson The New York Times Sun., Aug. 5, 2018 BALTIMORE—Maj. Gene Hogg, the Salvation Army’s commander for central Maryland, organized mobile kitchens after the twin towers fell in Manhattan and the levees broke in New Orleans. He fed protesters and police officers during the riots that erupted here in 2015 after a young man named Freddie Gray died of injuries he received while in the back of a police van. More than 200 businesses were destroyed, many of them places where people bought food. Once the city calmed down, he pondered his next move. After three days of prayer and fasting, Hogg had an answer. “God said I needed to open a grocery store,” he said. Article Continued Below It wasn’t exactly what he had hoped to hear. What Hogg, 56, knew about grocery stores he could have scribbled on the back of receipt. Now, three years later, he can talk about produce and Pop-Tarts like a pro. On a recent Friday afternoon he … [Read more...] about In aisle 10, a touch of grocery innovation
Amazon delivers dazzling profits, as well as US$20 Prime hike and NFL games
REUTERS: Amazon.com Inc more than doubled its profit on Thursday and predicted strong spring results as the world's biggest online retailer raised the price for U.S. Prime subscribers, added U.S. football games and touted its cloud services for business.The results showed the broad strength of the company, which has been expanding far beyond shipping packages, the business that has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump.The forecast beat expectations on Wall Street, sending shares up 7 percent to a new record high in after-hours trade and adding US$8 billion to the net worth of Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive and largest shareholder.Seattle-based Amazon is winning business from older, big box rivals by delivering virtually any product to customers at a low cost, and at times faster than it takes to buy goods from a physical store. It is expanding across industries, too, striking a US$130 million deal to stream Thursday night games for the U.S. National Football League online … [Read more...] about Amazon delivers dazzling profits, as well as US$20 Prime hike and NFL games
Amazon delivers hefty profits, led by web services
SAN FRANCISCO: Internet colossus Amazon on Thursday reported that its quarterly profit more than doubled on soaring revenue from online commerce and cloud services. The earnings beat market expectations and came with an announcement that Amazon is raising the annual Prime subscription rate in the US to US$119, (RM466) from US$99, effective next month. Prime has been a strong driver of Amazon revenue, but it has also heaped on costs as the company invests in logistics for deliveries and online content including original television shows, according to executives. Amazon said it earned US$1.6 billion in the first three months of this year on revenue that soared to US$51 billion from US$36 billion in the same period last year. Amazon shares climbed more than seven percent to US$1,626 in after-hours trades that followed release of the earnings figures. The Seattle-based firm spotlighted the juggernaut growth of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division, which hosts services and content that … [Read more...] about Amazon delivers hefty profits, led by web services
Amazon launches cashierless grocery store
By Matt Day The Seattle Times Mon., Jan. 22, 2018 SEATTLE—Amazon Go is a go for the masses. The retailer’s cashierless convenience store opened its doors to the public Monday, a debut that follows a nearly 14-month trial run open only to the Seattle company’s employees. The store requires customers to scan their smartphone on the way in, tracks them with cameras and other sensors as they browse, and, when they take an item off the shelf, adds it to a virtual cart. Groceries are charged to the customer’s Amazon account when they leave with their goods. At 7 a.m. Monday, the store opened to anyone with the Amazon Go smartphone app and a linked Amazon account. Article Continued Below Amazon Go is among the boldest efforts by the online retailer to reshape brick-and-mortar shopping. For a pocket-size, 1,800-square-foot convenience store, the concept has had an outsized influence on the retail industry since its surprise unveiling in … [Read more...] about Amazon launches cashierless grocery store