Wal-Mart Stores recently announced plans to add a third e-commerce fulfillment center in Plainfield, Ind., which will ensure the retailer can easily provide millions of American’s with two-day delivery service on their online orders.
The online fulfillment center will be similar to facilities near Fort Worth, Texas and Bethlahem, Penn., which opened in recent months.
“By combining large-scale online fulfillment centers with Walmart’s distribution centers, world-class transportation network and 4,200 stores, we have the ability to get incredibly close to our customers to deliver orders faster and at a lower cost,” said Brent Beabout, senior vice president of supply chain and logistics for Walmart Global eCommerce. “This center alone will allow cost-effective delivery to more than 160 million people in just one to two days.”
Finding ways to compete with Amazon Prime’s two-day offer has retailers large and small investing and leverage their own infrastructure.
Walmart.com now boasts more than 7 million items for sale online, and being able to get that product to consumers quickly is an important part of the e-commerce equation.
The new facility in Plainfield will be the largest of three at 1.2 million square feet and employ about 300 workers when the project is finished in early 2016.