Big Brother, meet Uncle Sam.
As in Sam Walton, the late Walmart founder who would be astounded at the lengths the retail giant is now going to please its customers.
The Arkansas-based company announced its latest endeavor Friday and it will be coming to Pittsburgh and two other cities in the fall. The service will initially be available to customers who live within the Pittsburgh city limits, a spokeswoman said.
Called “InHome,” the program not only takes the shopping out of shopping, it also takes care of the chore of putting the groceries away.
It’s more than the curb service that’s already offered by Walmart and other retailers and it goes beyond delivering the goods to your door.
A Walmart employee who is specially vetted and trained and is equipped with a body camera will do your shopping, then enter your home and put the groceries away. It will use what the company calls smart entry technology and customers can watch the delivery live as it happens from their computer or smartphone or review the footage later, Walmart said.
The company said the end result of the service is something it calls “fridgetopia” — “the feeling your refrigerator gets when it’s stocked with everything you need.”
“Now we can serve customers not just in the last mile, but in the last 15 feet. And that’s truly inspiring,” Marc Lore, president and CEO, of Walmart eCommerce U.S. said in the announcement of the program.
Walmart already offers grocery pickup at 3,100 stores and same-day grocery delivery from 1,600 stores, including eight in the Pittsburgh region.
The cost of the service is yet to be determined, but the price of the items people buy will be the same as it is in stores.
Answers to other questions about the service are here.
