Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Tuesday it would start using its stores to get Internet orders to customers faster.
Wal-Mart said it would soon test having lockers to hold goods ordered on the Internet in stores until shoppers pick them up. It is also doubling the number of stores that can fill orders placed online.
Those tests, along with services such as letting shoppers pay for online orders in stores with cash, are some of the ways Wal-Mart is trying to link its online business with its thousands of stores, executives told reporters at the company's first global e-commerce media day in San Bruno, California.
Starting this summer, it will put lockers in about a dozen US stores to hold goods ordered online until shoppers pick them up.
Lockers are a growing trend in e-commerce. As more packages turn up on shoppers' doorsteps theft has increased, especially in urban areas, spurring demand for secure places nearby to store them.
Wal-Mart is also planning a small expansion of a running test to ship online orders from physical stores. In 2013, the company plans to double the program to about 50 stores, a fraction of its nationwide footprint.
Using stores as fulfillment centers that are closer to customers lets Wal-Mart offer same-day delivery and next-day delivery of online orders "at very low cost," said Joel Anderson, chief executive of Walmart.com.
