Walmart just took the first step toward getting rid of its dedicated grocery app

• Walmart is streamlining its e-commerce operations by adding grocery services to its flagship app.
• Previously, the retail giant ran a separate app dedicated to grocery.
• Janey Whiteside, Walmart EVP and chief customer officer, said the change "makes sense" for both customers and the business.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Walmart is bringing grocery services into its flagship app, with the goal of ultimately nixing its separate Walmart Grocery app.

The company had previously maintained two separate apps: a blue app for general merchandise and an orange app for grocery services. Janey Whiteside, Walmart's EVP and chief customer officer, said that the company will roll out the changes in phases. Ultimately, the grocery app will be phased out entirely.

In the meantime, the main Walmart app will be updated to include fresh groceries, consumables, and local store assortments available for pickup and delivery. The app previously included millions of items available for free next-day to two-day delivery, as well as services like store maps and item finders.

Whiteside said that the retailer is currently working to test how to bring grocery into the Walmart app in order to give shoppers the best possible experience. The EVP said that the combination won't result in any "fundamental changes" to the grocery feature.

"We know that customers love both of our apps," Whiteside told Business Insider.

But the decision to streamline the app offerings was a simple one, in the end. Whiteside likened having to go through two apps to shopping at two stores, rather than a single everything store.

The EVP said that combining the apps also "makes sense" from Walmart's perspective.

"From a business side, I'm excited about it," Whiteside said. "The reality is when we had two separate apps, we just weren't able to fully optimize and leverage traffic."

Whiteside said that grocery app has helped the company boost loyalty with users, who tend to shop more with Walmart. But the company isn't "sub-optimizing marketing dollars" by "sending customers to different places."

Whiteside said Walmart's dedication to boosting its app experience is a testament to the fact that retailers want a streamlined shopping experience.

"People's lives are just so busy," Whiteside said. "They're trying to figure out how to reduce that mental tax of getting through chores, particularly as it relates to, shopping and groceries and everyday essentials."