Walmart Inc.'s Jetblack.com, a personal shopping service in New York City, is shutting down after two years, the retailer said Thursday.
Jetblack will fulfill outstanding orders and answer customer inquiries through next Friday, and honor its 30-day return policy through March 14. It will also refund customers their most recent $50 monthly membership fee.
A message to members on Jetblack's website states that the service's technology "will be rolling into Walmart to power its conversational commerce capabilities and build new experiences for customers."
Scott Eckert, senior vice president of next generation retail and principal at Store No. 8, Walmart's business incubator, said in a news release that "conversational commerce" includes such technologies as the text-based ordering system Jetblack used, and voice ordering for pickup and delivery.
The first portfolio company to emerge out of Store No. 8, Jetblack was part of an initiative to test and build these technologies, Eckert said.