Walmart today announced a $50 million strategic investment in New Dada, China’s largest local on-demand logistics and grocery O2O ecommerce platform. The investment is an extension of Walmart’s broader agreement with JD.com and cooperation with New Dada, which includes using New Dada’s network to offer customers two-hour delivery on groceries ordered from Walmart stores through the JD Daojia Dada app.Wal-Mart shifted its China strategy earlier this year when it sold its own online platform Yihaodian in exchange for a stake in local e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. New Dada is a joint venture part-owned by JD.com.
The two-hour delivery service is available to customers within a 3km radius of more than 20 Walmart stores that are currently part of the program. The number of Walmart stores offering two hour delivery is expected to double by the end of the year.
New Dada an independent joint venture of JD.com and Dada, boasts more than 25 million registered customers and provides local on-demand delivery capabilities with 2.5M crowd-sourced deliverers across more than 300 cities in China. Walmart has 426 stores in nearly 170 cities.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon commented, “All around the world, we’re creating seamless shopping experiences that bring together our stores, sites and apps to make shopping faster and easier. Our alliance with JD and cooperation with New Dada will enable seamless shopping to millions of customers across China.”
“Today’s exciting announcement brings together the global retail leader and China’s largest grocery delivery network to create a unique new shopping experience,” said Philip Kuai, CEO of New Dada.
“Combining New Dada’s unparalleled delivery network with Walmart stores means consumers will enjoy convenient access to a wide range of high-quality goods delivered to their homes and offices in record time. We look forward to deepening our cooperation with Walmart as China’s O2O retail industry continues to evolve and grow.”
News of the investment comes a day after Walmart and JD.com announced their collaboration on three new services — exclusive Sam’s Club and Global Imports stores on JD.com, and two-hour grocery delivery through New Dada.