It wasn’t that many years ago, when delivery was a standard 6-8 weeks. There weren’t of course all that many things you got delivered.
Yes, they were all gimmick products sold on late-night television. You could get a Thigh Master, Sweating to the Oldies, and all sorts of book series from the good folks at Time Life, but not much else.
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There were also famous catalogues like the Sears catalogue and a handful of others. When you ordered from those places, you paid a hefty shipping fee and it took weeks.
When Amazon launched, it eventually set a goal of two-day shipping. That goal was set not all that long ago.
In fact, it was 2005 when Amazon shared that it intended to make two-day shipping the standard. That means that something that is now become absolute table, stakes and retail, can’t even buy itself a beer.
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And, for the most part, aside from very fresh items, and maybe some over-the-counter medicine, in most cases it seems like two days should be more than enough.
In reality, Amazon and rivals, including Walmart and Target keep pushing the delivery time standard. We are not quite at these retailers, delivering something before you order it, but we’re not that far away from that either.
Walmart can deliver really fast
Walmart keeps increasing its delivery speed although you have to question who needs items this quickly? Perhaps there’s a larger group of people who plan poorly but rarely leave the house?
Whoever the audience is, Walmart has delivered for them.
‘Delivery speed continues to help drive our business. We’ll soon reach 95% of the population in the US with delivery options of three hours or less,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon shared during his chain’s first-quarter earnings call.
There does seem to be demand for this speedy delivery.
“For Walmart US, the number of deliveries in less than three hours grew by 91% for Q1 versus a year ago. And in China and India, we’re frequently talking about delivery times that happen in minutes,” he added.
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And, while Amazon (AMZN) has tried to wean some customers off two-day delivery by offering incentives for a once-a-week “Prime Day” delivery, Walmart continues to bet big on faster.
“We’re confident in our ability to strengthen this business even as we navigate cost of goods changes. Our short and longer-term opportunities are clear,” McMilllon shared.
Walmart sends a warning
McMillion also shared some thoughts that show that even Walmart isn’t immune from what could be called the volatile trade situation being created in the White House.
“The immediate challenge is obviously navigating the impact of tariffs here in the US” he said.
McMillon also made sure to kiss the ring, something that President Donald Trump seems to like.
“We want to thank President Trump and Secretary Bessent for the progress made recently. We’re hopeful that it leads to a longer-term agreement between the US and China that would result in even lower tariffs,” the CEO said.
It’s hard not to interpret that as a plea to a president who tends to act first, then make changes when things go wrong (often pretending that was the plan all along).
Walmart’s CEO also tried to reassure his customers, but he made no promises.
“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins,” he added.
That’s basically McMillon saying “it’s not us, it’s Trump” without actually doing it,
The CEO did make some promises on food prices, even though those, too, will be impacted by tariffs.
“We want to keep our food and consumables prices as low as we can. Food prices in the US have gone up in recent years and our customers have been feeling that all along. We won’t let tariff-related cost pressure on some general merchandise items put pressure on food prices,” he shared.
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That’s actually a promise to eat costs to keep prices, but the CEO acknowledged that can only go so far.
“But as it relates to food, tariffs on countries like Costa Rica, Peru, and Colombia, are pressuring imported items like bananas, avocados, coffee, and roses. We’ll do our best to control what we can control in order to keep food prices as low as possible,” he added..
