Walmart debuts one-day shipping

This is an excerpt from a story delivered exclusively to Business Insider Intelligence E-Commerce Briefing subscribers. To receive the full story plus other insights each morning, click here.Walmart has announced a one-day shipping offering, dubbed “NextDay delivery,” that will be available for up to 220,000 products through Walmart's website. The specific items that will be eligible for free NextDay delivery will vary based on customer location, and to qualify for the service, orders must be $35 or more and be comprised entirely of items eligible for NextDay delivery.The offering will be available in Phoenix and Las Vegas first before expanding to Southern California, and the company plans to reach 75% of the US this year. The products that qualify for NextDay all come from the fulfillment center closest to the customer and ship in one box or as few as possible.Here's what it means: NextDay is a rapid answer to the challenge Amazon laid out when announcing that it'll be evolving Prime Two-Day Shipping to a one-day offering.Quickly rolling out one-day shipping with no membership fee is a wise move, as Amazon's competitors can't afford to fall behind the e-tailer on delivery speed. By offering one-day Prime shipping, Amazon threatens to shift consumer expectations of delivery to a point where even two-day shipping — a challenge competitors like Target and Walmart were just beginning to answer consistently — seems slow.The only reasonable response for Amazon's rivals is to start working on their own offerings, and Walmart is showing that it's on the ball. Furthermore, it will be offering NextDay delivery without the overhead of a membership fee, while Amazon shoppers will have to be Prime members to enjoy one-day shipping with the e-tailer, giving Walmart a slight edge when it comes to accessibility, although it does come with a $35 order minimum.The bigger picture: Amazon's one-day shipping will dwarf NextDay unless Walmart expands its service to more products.Amazon will likely make millions of items available for one-day Prime delivery, making NextDay pale in comparison. The e-commerce giant currently offers two-day Prime shipping on over 100 million items, according to Consumer Reports. If it makes all of these products eligible for its one-day offering, it will be capable of delivering significantly more items in one day than Walmart's 220,000.Walmart could feasibly grow the number of items eligible for NextDay as it rolls out the offering. The retailer currently offers two-day delivery on millions of items, having boosted the number of products eligible during the 2018 holiday season. As Walmart gains more experience with fulfilling orders in just one day and starts using more fulfillment centers — and potentially stores — to support NextDay, it may be able make some of these two-day-eligible products available for NextDay delivery. This could further help it stay competitive with Amazon's nascent one-day offering.Interested in getting the full story？ Here are two ways to get access: 1. Sign up for the E-Commerce Briefing to get it delivered to your inbox 6x a week. >> Get Started2. Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to the E-Commerce Briefing, plus more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now