DoorDash brings its delivery collaboration with Walmart to an end

DoorDash is said to have sent Walmart a 30-day notice and a letter in August 2022 to end their partnership. The termination will go into effect in September 2022.

The termination will end a partnership that began in April 2018 as a pilot to deliver Walmart groceries to customers in the Atlanta metro area. Since then, the partnership expanded to more states across the US.

Although Walmart has partnered with third-party delivery services like DoorDash, the retail giant has also been focused on building out its own delivery efforts. For instance, it is reported on that Walmart is acquiring Delivery Drivers, which is the company behind Walmart’s Spark platform that sees gig workers deliver orders to customers.

Expansion into the B2B space and Meta partnership

DoorDash, on the other hand, has been building out its own DoorDash Drive platform, its Business-to-Business service that provides drivers to merchants through their own website or app.

While the company’s partnership with Walmart is coming to a close, the company has geared up to collaborate with another notable brand, Facebook parent Meta.The delivery company confirmed that DoorDash Drive is now in the early stages of testing a service that will allow DoorDash drivers to pick up and drop off Facebook Marketplace items to customers. DoorDash and Meta are currently offering the test service in several cities in the United States.

Layoffs at Walmart

Walmart has recently cut off approximatively 200 corporate jobs as it contends with rising costs, bloated inventories, and weakening demand for general merchandise.

The company's move comes after slashing its annual profit forecast for the second time in less than three months. US consumers are pulling back on clothing and durable-goods purchases as soaring inflation raises the cost of food and basic items. That’s prompting Walmart to cut prices on general merchandise even as grocery sales continue to rise.

The layoffs in the sector are happening for a variety of reasons. The market is very different now than it was in 2021, when dealmaking was happening at a rapid pace, and investors were jumping into funding rounds with sky-high valuations. Several venture capitalists and private equity firms, for example, have been warning their portfolio companies to preserve cash and look for ways they can cut costs. Oftentimes, that comes in the form of hiring freezes or job cuts.