So the world’s largest retailer is expanding its partnership with on-demand home-services company Handy to sell installation and assembly packages right on its website, Handy said.
Starting Wednesday and rolling out across the US through September, Walmart’s online customers will be able to tack on Handy services at checkout, including television mounting for US$79 or shelf-hanging for US$64. For now, the services will be limited to indoor projects, like putting together a desk or installing an air-conditioner unit, though Handy Chief Executive Officer Oisin Hanrahan said it could be expanded to more categories.
Walmart, which already offers Handy installation services at 2,000 physical stores, will reach a much wider swath of consumers with the web expansion – giving it a new leg up in the e-commerce battle, where value-added services are increasingly making their way into consumers’ shopping carts. Amazon.com Inc has been quietly building its own in-house services division, while furniture retailer Ikea bought assembly-provider TaskRabbit last year in a bid that today’s customers will pay for convenience. Services are also a key component of Best Buy Co.’s turnaround plans.
“You’re seeing Walmart – which is traditionally known for a price competitive approach – thinking they need to compete on services,” Hanrahan said in an interview. “We’ve got a convenience-based economy where people value their time a lot but it’s also just a raw reality that the skills you need to do this work are in decline.”
Other Handy services like house-cleaning won’t be available on Walmart’s site, though Hanrahan said the startup “is not 100% against” adding those services to a third-party seller in the future.
Hanrahan declined to say how many more customers he thought Handy would reach with the digital Walmart roll out, while a Walmart spokesman declined to comment.
“We want to save time, remove frustration and help consumers enjoy their purchases faster,” Alex Levin, senior vice president of growth at Handy, said in an emailed statement. “Walmart is dedicated to improving the shopping experience both online and offline, and we’re proud to be a part of that effort.”