How Walmart's latest tech acquisition could make 'last-mile' delivery fast and affordable — and beat Amazon at its own game

• Walmart has announced its intent to acquire peer-to-peer delivery company JoyRun.
• "We'll be able to explore how the technology could complement ours," Srini Venkatesan, Walmart's executive vice president of global technology, told Business Insider in a statement.
• Walmart has long worked to dominate "last mile" delivery in order to better compete against rivals like Amazon.

Walmart is taking yet another run at honing its last mile delivery capabilities, this time by announcing its intent to acquire the talent, technology platform and intellectual property of technology company JoyRun.

JoyRun is a peer-to-peer delivery app that was founded in 2015. The app allows users to request an order from a local store. If another users accepts the order, they can serve as a "runner" by picking it up and delivering it for a fee, or for free. JoyRun's has cultivated a network of 30,000 such "runners," as well as around 540 merchant partners.

Srini Venkatesan, Walmart's executive vice president of global technology, said that the tech company has a national presence that has been "historically concentrated around campuses and military communities." Venkatesan, Walmart's executive vice president of global technology, spoke to Business Insider about the retail giant's impending purchase, and what it means for its fulfillment strategy.

"The team from JoyRun will join our Supply Chain Technology team once the deal closes," he told Business Insider in a statement. "At that time, we'll be able to explore how the technology could complement ours."

The Arkansas-based retailer experimented with many technologies in its bid to win retail's delivery war against rivals like Amazon. Earlier this year, Walmart announced partnerships with a trio of drone companies and a self-driving car business for various fulfillment pilots.

According to Venkatesan, JoyRun could give the company even more of an edge in terms of "last mile" delivery. In supply chain management, the "last mile" refers to the transportation of an order to its final destination. Walmart holds a key "last mile" advantage over smaller retail rivals and e-commerce outfits like Amazon in the form of its fleet of 4,700 plus stores.

"When executed strategically, last-mile offers the benefits of speed and lower costs, since the order is only traveling a short distance," Venkatesan said.

Venkatesan noted that Walmart currently employs a variety of different shipping nodes, including an e-commerce fulfillment center that can ship across a 500-mile radius, pop-up distribution centers that can ship across a 100-mile radius, and Walmart stores that can ship across a 10-mile radius.

He said that the retailer has developed an artificial intelligence-driven concept called "intelligent flow," which helps the team "quickly understand where products need to be allocated throughout our fulfillment network." Machine learning also helps Walmart truck inventory to stores and "designate quantities for the sales floor or for e-commerce."

"All of this enables us to allocate forward-deployed inventory at a lower cost, and easily leverage our existing last-mile delivery capabilities to serve customers quickly and efficiently," Venkatesan said.

In his LinkedIn post on the acquisition, Venkatesan wrote that JoyRun could complement the company's SPARK program for independent contractors or its existing third-party delivery providers. He told Business Insider that "it's too early to speculate" about how exactly these capabilities could dovetail with JoyRun's technology.

"Once the deal closes, the app and existing service will temporarily be unavailable while we actively explore ways in which we might integrate JoyRun's unique IP and technology into our last-mile delivery capabilities," he said. "Having multiple options for delivering to customers allows us more flexibility to serve customers."

Venkatesan said that JoyRun will not factor into Walmart's strategy for the ongoing 2020 holiday season. He noted that the companies only just signed the agreement, and that they "anticipate the deal will close in the coming weeks."And as for whether or not shoppers can expect to be able to officially pickup deliveries for their friends and neighbors soon, Venkatesan said that Walmart stores already act as informal community hubs.

"With 4,700 plus stores located within 10 miles of 90% of the US population, the proximity to our customers allows us to think creatively about how our stores can be used to not only for in-store shopping, but also to serve the increasing needs of omni shoppers," he said.