So, we learned last week how Kohl’s took a shot by letting folks return Amazon products to their store.  All in the hopes that those Amazon customers would buy some Kohl’s products as long as they were in the store.  (Which, indeed, is what is happening.)

Now, we learn that Walmart- in concert with Ford and Argo AI (the entity is funded by Volkswagen and Ford)– is attempting to deliver it’s wares to customers in three cities (Washington DC, Miami FL, and Austin TX) on the same day the order is placed or by the next morning.  Using autonomous vehicles.  This is Walmart’s attempt to minimize the cost and disruption of the “last-mile” delivery.

“Last mile” delivery has been defined as the transportation of goods from a hub to the final destination- typically a personal residence.  The focus is to effect that last mile delivery to the end user as quickly as possible.  The issue is that the last mile delivery is typically the costliest portion of the delivery.

The goal of the Walmart test is to iron out all the wrinkles, so it can expand the concept to a great portion of the USA.  This will replace a bunch of services that Walmart has been using (among them Door Dash), hopefully lowering the cost of the last mile delivery.

Walmart is not unique in this attempt- Amazon set up it own series of franchised delivery companies, Target employs it’s “Shipt” concept.  And, then there’s DoorDash, Instacart, Uber and a slew of others in the gig economy delivery space.

What makes Walmart different is that it’s letting SparkDriver (it’s delivery platform) service other businesses.  It’s hoping that by carrying more products to nearby locations, it can lower the last mile cost for its own deliveries and for those who sign up to use GoLocal (the outsourced version of SparkDriver).

To do this, GoLocal will not longer brand its vehicles with the Walmart Logo nor will its delivery folks be attired in Walmart colors- so that competitors will feel safe in employing the service. Walmart hopes to sign up florists, bakeries, cupcakes, auto parts, and the like.

Don’t think that UPS and FedEx are going to take this lying down.  They are both beefing up their capabilities to offer same day delivery.  (But in their case, a whole new logistics system will have to be developed.)

It’s going to get interesting.