Walmart Drops $35 Order Minimum for Two-Hour Grocery Delivery

published Mar 3, 2021

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Walmart announced Monday that it will be removing its $35 minimum purchase requirement for its Express two-hour grocery delivery service.

“Customers told us sometimes the items they needed in a hurry didn’t meet the minimum, so we’re removing it, making it even easier for customers to get what they need when they need it,” Tom Ward, Senior Vice President of Customer Product, said in a press release.

The company launched Walmart Express last year in response to the spike in demand for online orders by customers actively avoiding shopping in stores due to the pandemic. The service is now available at 3,000 locations nationwide that reach 70% of the U.S. population, according to the company.

The change allows Walmart to better compete against Amazon’s Prime Now rapid delivery service. Prime Now still requires a $35 order minimum and doesn’t have as widespread a reach as Walmart does — which could make Walmart the more attractive option.

The service now costs $10 on top of the standard delivery fee of $7.95 to $9.95, but the second fee is waived for customers with an Amazon Prime-like Walmart+ subscription that that retailer launched last year.

Walmart+ costs customers $98 a year and gets customers free next-day or two-day shipping. Prime Now is free for Prime customers and costs $4.99 for orders that don’t meet the minimum purchase requirement. Amazon’s program also comes with other exclusive media offerings such as Prime Video. Despite that, Walmart+ has grown exponentially, garnering more than 8 million subscribers since its launch last fall.

Many other retailers have also launched “express” e-commerce options after the pandemic changed consumer shopping habits. In May, Hy-Vee added a two-hour pickup option with a $9.95 per order fee for customers using its Aisles Online grocery service.
And just a month later, FreshDirect added two-hour on-demand delivery in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and part of Queens. The express delivery allows customers to shop from a limited assortment of items that the company can pack and ship quickly.