More than 50% of Site-to-Store orders-placed on Walmart.com for free delivery to a Wal-Mart store-are from customers making their first purchase on Walmart.com, the retailer says. The service has accounted for about one-third of all Walmart.com sales since its launch four months ago, Wal-Mart adds.

The service, recently expanded to more than 3,300 stores, lets online shoppers request free delivery to their nearest Wal-Mart store of any of tens of thousands of products, many of which are not available in stores, Wal-Mart says. Delivery usually takes seven to 10 days. Walmart.com is No. 13 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

Shoppers who have used the Site to Store service often buy additional items when arriving at a store for pickup of the online order. Since the service was launched, Wal-Mart has seen as 20% increase in the number of Site to Store customers who spend an additional $60 or more on in-store purchases, the retailer says.

The service has saved Walmart.com customers $5 million in shipping fees for more than 500,000 products shipped since the service started, Wal-Mart says. By consolidating shipments of online orders to stores instead of to consumers’ addresses, the service has also provided Wal-Mart with more efficient transportation and packaging operations, saving the retailer 1,000 gallons of gasoline each week and 20,000 packing boxes each month, it adds.

“We`re very excited by the strong results we`ve seen during our rollout,” says Raul Vazquez, Walmart.com`s CEO. “We`ve said all along that we designed the Site to Store service to fit the way our Wal-Mart customers shop.”

Mike Smith, Walmart.com`s senior director of operations, adds, “Customers are clearly responding to the idea of purchasing online items that are not available in our Wal-Mart stores. Also, they benefit from our ability to leverage Wal-Mart`s world-class logistics network to cost-effectively move packages and deliver them to stores.”

Customers that use the Site to Store service receive an automated e-mail to indicate their order is ready for pickup. Signs with the Site to Store logo direct customers where to retrieve their order once inside the store.

 

 

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