Walmart Inc. is offering Smart Box grocery delivery containers to its InHome subscribers served by participating stores in Florida.
Walmart tested the boxes, which look like oversized coolers, with InHome customers in Bentonville last spring. The temperature-controlled, automated Smart Boxes safely store fresh, frozen and pantry items until customers can retrieve them, the Bentonville-based retailer said in announcing the pilot in January 2022.
Virginia-based HomeValet said in a news release that it will start shipping the secure, internet-connected containers this month. Customers must buy their Smart Box, which normally costs $499, but HomeValet is selling them to Walmart InHome subscribers at an unspecified introductory price.
Customers install the boxes outside their homes where Walmart employees can place their grocery orders at the customer-designated time. An app lets users control and monitor the boxes.
The containers can also hold packages to thwart "porch pirates," HomeValet said.
Smart Boxes are one of several last-mile delivery options Walmart is testing, the retailer said.