Walmart Testing Delivering Groceries Straight to Your Refrigerator
Posted on September 22, 2017
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is testing a new delivery service that would bring groceries into your home and into your fridge. The in-fridge deliveries could even happen while you were not home. Walmart would stock your fridge for you.
Walmart has partnered with a company named August Home to provide smart locks. The Walmart delivery driver would get a one-time passcode to enter a customers home and put the items away in their refrigerator. Customers could watch the entire process through a home security camera and app on their smartphone. The door would automatically lock and require a new code after the delivery driver departed.
Walmart explained the concept in a blog post: "Here's how the test will work: I place an order on Walmart.com for several items, even groceries. When my order is ready, a Deliv driver will retrieve my items and bring them to my home. If no one answers the doorbell, he or she will have a one-time passcode that I've pre-authorized which will open my home's smart lock. As the homeowner, I'm in control of the experience the entire time – the moment the Deliv driver rings my doorbell, I receive a smartphone notification that the delivery is occurring and, if I choose, I can watch the delivery take place in real-time. The Deliv associate will drop off my packages in my foyer and then carry my groceries to the kitchen, unload them in my fridge and leave. I'm watching the entire process from start to finish from my home security cameras through the August app. As I watch the Deliv associate exit my front door, I even receive confirmation that my door has automatically been locked."
Walmart also says, "We're excited to be running this test in Silicon Valley with a handful of August Home customers, all of whom have opted-in to participate in testing this new concept. And we want to do more in the future by delivering groceries and other orders in whatever location works best for our customers – inside the house for some and in the fridge/freezer in the garage for others. The possibilities are endless, and we look forward to exploring how we can further serve our customers' needs."
It is an innovate idea that adds new levels of trust that go way beyond the current manner in which people obtain their groceries. It would be easier to not have to go to the grocery store so frequently. Here's a video Walmart shared explaining the in-fridge deliveries.