Walmart tests same-day delivery - FT.com Walmart is joining a shift towards same-day delivery for internet shoppers by starting a test service for fee-paying customers as it tries to fight back against Amazon. Delivery speeds are emerging as a key battleground in ecommerce as both online-only retailers and bricks-and-mortar rivals prepare for another hyper-competitive holiday shopping season. In a test in four parts of the US, Walmart will fulfil same-day orders from its own stores, showing how traditional retailers can use their existing facilities to rival Amazon's growing network of distribution centres. Amazon sells much of the same general merchandise as Walmart and has accelerated its delivery speeds to challenge the instant gratification of shopping at bricks-and-mortar chains, which remains one of their main advantages. Customers who place orders with the Walmart To Go service before noon, local time, can get same-day delivery for a $5-$10 fee in northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and parts of the San Francisco Bay area. Walmart, which bristles at the description of Amazon as "the Walmart of the web," has struggled to gain a foothold in ecommerce for several years. According to the Internet Retailer website, Walmart's online sales were $4.9bn last year, roughly one per cent of its total revenue. Amazon's sales were $48bn. "This test allows us to utilise stores as forward deployed fulfilment centres," said a Walmart spokesman. The service is available for general merchandise such as toys and electronics in all four markets, but only for fresh food around San Francisco. Deliveries will be done by UPS. Walmart said it wanted to understand which customers would find the service useful, including last-minute holiday shoppers and those who want to be sure when their goods will arrive at home. EBay has also recently begun testing a same-day delivery service with some retail partners in San Francisco. Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research, said: "I fundamentally don't understand as a retailer how you make same-day delivery economically efficient." "That last mile delivery piece is incredibly expensive," she added. She also questioned how much demand there was for same-day delivery from consumers. While applauding Walmart for its numerous digital initiatives, she said its money would be better spent on what it does best: cutting prices in stores. "The question of whether Amazon is beating Walmart on price is a legitimate one and if that is true, that is a bigger threat to Walmart," said Ms Mulpuru. Amazon's Local Express Delivery offers same-day shipments in ten US cities for a $8.99 fee. While acknowledging that Amazon wants to get closer to customers with its new distribution centres, Tom Szkutak, its chief financial officer, said in August: "We don't see a way to do same-day delivery on a broad scale economically."