Cornershop is Latin and South America’s leading online grocery delivery platform and it has been bought by Walmart in a deal reported to be worth in the region of $225 million. The aim of the acquisition is to improve Walmart’s omnichannel retail efforts in the region especially in Mexico and Chile.
The deal will be finalised by the end of the year. All of the Cornershop executives and staff will stay in place and continue to run the business. It will also continue to serve a variety of retailers.
We are focused on making life easier for customers and associates by building strong local businesses, powered by Walmart. Cornershop’s digital expertise, technology and capabilities will strengthen our successful businesses in Mexico and Chile and provide learning for other markets in which we operate. This is an opportunity to leverage both of our brands, as well as Walmart’s strong supply chain and store network. Combining Cornershop’s innovative, crowdsourced delivery platform with Walmart’s unique assets will allow us to accelerate growth for both companies, delighting our customers by saving them both time and money.
– Judith McKenna, President and CEO of Walmart International
Walmart is America’s biggest retailer and, as we have already written today with regards to online marketplaces and retail, it is investing big in online with the revamp of Jet.com being just one example. International expansion is crucial to its online plans, and battle with Amazon, as the purchase of Flipkart in India also attests.
Founded in 2015, Cornershop is rather like Instacart which is popular in the USA. The service uses contracters and freelancers to go shopping on behalf of users who place orders via an app. The drivers visit the stores to shop and then they deliver the goods direct to a customer’s door. Crucially Cornershop lets you order from several shops in your locale in one consignment meaning they can do your whole shop in one go.
