Walmart Expands 30-Minute Delivery as Shoppers Keep Paying Extra for Speed

Walmart keeps expanding its fast-delivery services: as shoppers look for convenient ways to quickly get groceries, medication, or a last-minute gift, the retail giant is moving fast to meet that demand. This year the company expanded its drone-delivery partnership with Wing and rolled out one-hour delivery at hundreds of Sam's Club stores.

The numbers make the trend clear: gross merchandise volume tied to delivery within three hours or less grew 48% year over year in the second quarter. The 30-minute service is available to Walmart+ members — the company's paid subscription program — for an extra $10 fee.

Despite the surcharge, shoppers are increasingly opting for the faster service: CFO John David Rainey said customers who paid extra for speed accounted for 37% of store-fulfilled deliveries during the quarter — an all-time high.

Stores are becoming an increasingly critical link in Walmart's delivery network: store-fulfilled delivery sales grew more than 40% in the second quarter. Stores handle the last-mile leg for 80% of the company's e-commerce orders, and that figure reaches 100% for express deliveries.

CEO John Furner stresses that the company's "network of physical locations, logistics infrastructure, and local delivery capabilities" give it a serious competitive edge. At the same time, Walmart is leaning heavily on supply-chain automation: more than 3,100 U.S. stores now use "automated freight," meaning incoming shipments to those stores are sorted and palletized by automated systems.