LITTLE ROCK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is testing a new service in which online shoppers who do not live near any of the company’s stores can use site-to-store shipping to FedEx Office locations.
The test is under way at 26 FedEx sites in Los Angeles and 18 in Boston. If rolled out nationwide, online shoppers would have an additional 1,800 locations where they could have products delivered without adding to the retailer’s posted online purchase price.
“As always, we continue to test and provide innovative ways to provide more savings for our customers online at Walmart.com,” Ravi Jariwala, spokesman for the company’s online business, said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. “Since this is just a test, we are not offering further details at this time.”
Bill Simon, president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart U.S., briefly addressed the test when he spoke to retail analysts last week at a Goldman Sachs conference, noting the trial has shown “a very, very positive uptake in that program as it has launched.”
FedEx Office formerly was known as FedEx Kinkos. Sonya Thorpe, a FedEx spokesman, said Wednesday that a service the company provides called “hold at FedEx” is free of charge. She declined further comment, saying the company does not publicly discuss its customers’ business.
Wal-Mart currently has one store in Los Angeles and another 19 in neighboring cities. It has no stores in Boston and 20 in the region.
FedEx Kinkos has 20 locations in Los Angeles and 12in Boston. Numerous other locations are in the two cities’ neighboring communities.
Cathy Hotka, a retail technology consultant based in Washington, D.C., said Wal-Mart’s link to FedEx Office likely will enable the company to reach new shoppers.
“Despite their size, there’s a substantial portion of the population that doesn’t shop there at all,” said Hotka, who runs Cathy Hotka & Associates LLC.
Wal-Mart has no stores in Washington and a shopping trip to Wal-Mart would take half a day, she said.
But FedEx Office - “that’s walking distance for me. Literally, that’s four blocks.” FedEx Office has 27 locations in Washington, D.C., and several more in surrounding cities.
If the service is done right, she said, “Wal-Mart will be able to reach a very significant portion of the population that is largely blind to them,” she said.
Wal-Mart’s stock closed Wednesday at $53.82 a share, up 25 cents or 0.47 percent on the New York Stock Exchange. It has traded between $47.77 and $56.27 in the past year.
Business, Pages 25 on 09/23/2010