Wal-Mart Stores Inc will partner with ride hailing services Uber and Lyft to test online grocery deliveries, expecting the experience to speed up shipment times and better compete with competitors like Amazon.com Inc. Noting that Amazon already operates Prime Fresh, a same-day “fresh produce and grocery” delivery service.

Wal-Mart said it will start its trail deliveries within the coming weeks in Denver and Phoenix.

Working on developing delivery times came as a method to make shopping esier to busy inner-city workers who do not own cars and for whom grocery trips are often limited to what they can carry home. IWal-Mart stated the limit of delivery charge to vary between $7 and $10 for its new service, and also added that it will alert customers when their order is being delivered.

The biggest grocer in the United States is already expanding its online order options to offer grocery deliveries within two days for a $49 minimum annual fee.
Online groceries are a $10.9 billion industry in the United States, and the market is expected to grow 9.6 percent annually through 2019, according to a December report by market research firm IbisWorld.

One of the largest players in the segment is Amazon, which delivers groceries in Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, and northern and southern California.

For Wal-Mart, the move in online grocery follows a $2.7 billion investment over the past two years boosting worker wages and training, steps that it hopes will improve its customer service and help boost sales.