This Delivery Company Just Cut Ties With Walmart
After delivering groceries to Walmart customers for more than four years, DoorDash has ended its partnership with America's biggest retailer.
According to Business Insider, the delivery service is parting ways with Walmart because the partnership "was no longer mutually beneficial" and to "focus on long-term customer relationships. The change will take effect in September.
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The news comes shortly after the retailer announced that it will be acquiring Delivery Drivers Inc. (DDI), the company that staffs Walmart's delivery service platform Spark. According to Walmart, the acquisition, which will bring driver support in-house, aims to "simplify the driver experience with a single point of contact." Since its 2018 rollout, Spark has become Walmart's "largest delivery-service provider," making up nearly 75% of Walmart's deliveries. Almost 85% of U.S. households can get groceries delivered through this company because of its wide reach.
Walmart and DoorDash originally teamed up in 2018 as a test to deliver groceries to Walmart customers in the Atlanta area, but it eventually spread to other states from coast to coast.
The acquisition of DDI isn't the only move Walmart has made in the delivery space recently. In May, the retail giant announced that it will be expanding GoLocal, its Spark-powered white-label delivery service that launched just a year ago. Similarly, Business Insider reported that DoorDash is focused on growing its own white-label delivery service, DoorDash Drive.
"We'd like to thank Walmart for their partnership and are looking forward to continuing to build and provide support for merchants in the years ahead," a DoorDash spokesperson said in a statement.
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While DoorDash is splitting from Walmart, the delivery company still has a major big-box retailer under its belt. In March, BJ's partnered with DoorDash, becoming the first wholesale chain to offer the on-demand delivery service to customers.
