Walmart’s Express Delivery growth: What grocers should know about the need for speed

Walmart’s (WMT) executive team repeated the same stat multiple times during its 2Q26 earnings call and it’s important to put it into the context of eGrocery’s evolution, along with highlighting a couple of key takeaways.

Stat: Walmart reported a 50% year-over-year (YOY) growth in its U.S. Delivery service.

That’s certainly an impressive result, but the real surprise for many was that one-third of the Delivery orders were fulfilled in 3 hours or less.
To examine the topic of express delivery, we dug a little deeper into the data to analyze the responses Brick Meets Click (BMC) collected in last month’s shopper research wave.

The chart below shows that in July ’25 approximately 40% of WMT’s most recent eGrocery orders were fulfilled using Express Same day service, which promises delivery in 3 hours or less.

While not an apples-to-apples comparison (since WMT was reporting quarterly results and our analysis includes only the month of July), it still illustrates the impressive share of orders – as a proxy for customer demand – that are taking advantage of shorter order cycle times.

WMT also mentioned on the call that 20% of those Express orders arrived within 30 minutes.  In other words, nearly 7% of all WMT’s Delivery orders during its 2Q26 period were received within 30 minutes. (Calculation: 33% of orders delivered within 3 hours X 20% of those who paid the Express fee)

Digging even deeper into BMC’s July ’25 shopper survey responses revealed that over 25% of WMT’s Express order cohort was fulfilled in 1 hour or less. Our share point is higher, likely because of the difference between the time windows, i.e., WMT’s was within 30 minutes while BMC’s was within 60 minutes. Either way, it's a remarkable accomplishment, and it reinforces the strength of WMT’s largest strategic asset: physical stores.

What’s the customer’s willingness to pay for this value-added service? 

Although WMT didn’t share this detail, it’s an important question to understand and one that BMC’s shopper data set can provide insights into.

Our July ’25 shopper survey results showed that more than half of WMT's eGrocery customers/members, as a share of Express orders, paid an incremental fee to use the value-added service. We also saw a month-over-month increase in the share of customers who paid for the Express service.

Looking ahead, the participation rate is expected to increase further.  One reason is that WMT is still expanding access to 3-hour or less Delivery across the U.S.  WMT mentioned that this service level covers 93% of households as August 1, 2025, and its goal is to reach 95% by year's end, although it’s not clear if that’s the calendar or the fiscal year.  

Does this mean more customers want faster delivery and are willing to pay for it? 

In the case of WMT this certainly appears to be the case. But that’s not to suggest that some customers won’t respond positively to offers where they can trade off shorter cycle times for lower explicit fees. After all, there is another customer segment that likes the convenience that Delivery provides but also wants to avoid paying the higher costs related to it. 

The statement above is highlighted because it is critical to understand.  We are not suggesting that WMT has completely separated from the pack, but they continue to pull farther away. 

What can we learn from Amazon’s approach to Delivery?

If you’re unsure about the size of the shopper segment that likes Delivery but wants a lower-cost alternative, consider what Amazon (AMZN) is doing. 

AMZN has just expanded its own same-day service offering fresh groceries, including produce, frozen, and refrigerated products. This service leverages its network of fulfillment centers across the country, after upgrading them with the refrigeration necessary to fill this role. 

The shift takes advantage of AMZN’s pure-play Ship-to-Home operating model to gain a cost advantage over WMT (not just on the service side but in certain circumstances, the entire transaction) even though the basket of goods from AMZN is still higher priced. 

Bottom line: As a U.S. grocery retail chain operator competing against WMT and/or AMZN, you need effective strategies that play to your strengths and are more sustainable than simply attempting to compete on the price of products, cost of using a service, or speed of delivery.

So, if you have questions about potential Delivery strategy improvements or would like to discuss more pressing issues related to your banner’s current situation, please drop me an email at david.bishop@brickmeetsclick.com.  ‍

Brick Meets Click – The Grocery industry’s go-to source for objective data and insights related to digital commerce since 2011.