Walmart's copycat strategy: Restaurant delivery is its latest use of heft to break into established markets

Walmart, a giant in the retail industry, has always been innovative and adventurous in its business endeavors. The company started in 1962 as a discount store in Arkansas selling general merchandise. Founder Sam Walton was known for his willingness to learn from every experience, whether successful or not. Over the years, Walmart has ventured into various sectors beyond its core retail business.

One of the early expansions was in the home improvement sector with the launch of Sav-Co Home Improvement Center in 1975, though this venture didn't yield significant results, leading Walmart to focus more on enhancing its existing stores. In the pharmacy business, Walmart began dispensing prescriptions in 1978 and has since become the fifth largest pharmacy in the US, filling prescriptions in as little as 30 minutes.

The auto service sector was another area where Walmart expanded, opening auto care centers that also served as a testing ground for its third-party marketplace.

In the late 1980s, Walmart experimented with four different wholesale club formats, eventually succeeding with Sam's Club, a venture that now operates over 600 stores across the US with annual sales of $90 billion. The company's supercenters, a blend of general merchandise and groceries under one roof, also owe their existence to this experimentation. Walmart is now the largest grocery chain in the US, with roughly one in five dollars spent in the grocery category attributed to them.

Recently, Walmart has set its sights on the restaurant delivery industry. In a move that puts it on a collision course with delivery services like DoorDash and Uber Eats, Walmart is partnering with Dunkin to offer delivery from thousands of their off-site locations across the US. This strategy positions Walmart as a formidable player in the restaurant delivery market, competing more directly with established players in the field.