How Walmart delivers what you need—and a friendly face—to your home

This story is part of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business 2022. Explore the full list of innovators who broke through this year—and had an impact on the world around us.

When Whitney Pegden set out to convince Walmart customers to trust the company to deliver groceries directly to their fridges, freezers, and pantries, she imagined that technology would be the answer. She and her team at InHome, developed through Walmart’s Store No. 8 incubator, outfitted their delivery staff with wearable cameras in order to provide customers with a live video feed, and installed smart locks at garage entrances and front doors so its workers had access.

Since the earliest days of the internet, many companies have tried to develop a tech-powered grocery-delivery service at scale, but they’ve all missed one thing. Pegden, too, almost made the same mistake. But the secret to success, she realized, is actually old-fashioned: people. InHome started as a pilot in 2019, and when it continued to win praise from customers during the pandemic—even as Pegden’s team was forced to introduce a COVID-19-safe doorstep delivery option—what they were responding to was seeing the same two or three friendly faces at their homes, week in and week out.

Pegden, a veteran of several early-stage startups, shifted InHome’s focus to the humanity underpinning the service. Rather than rely on the more expedient route of hiring contractors, she and her team worked to hire from a pool of tenured Walmart associates, train them, and provide them with uniforms and branded cars. (The average InHome driver has more than six years of Walmart experience.) InHome customers, many of whom work from home, see the same delivery people on a regular basis. “We see really strong relationships develop between our associates and customers,” she says. The InHome relationship shifts from a utilitarian, technological one to “this person is part of the team of people who help me get my tasks done each week.”

Walmart gave the green light to expand the program earlier this year. As of June, InHome was available at 200 Walmart stores, with plans to reach 1,000 stores and 30 million households by 2023, which would make it the largest grocery-delivery service. By the end of 2022, Pegden expects to be managing 4,000 dedicated InHome associates. Now, she just has to keep up with demand from the busy suburban families who comprise her core market. “Honestly, [customers are saying,] what else can you do for me because like I’ve got a lot on my list this week. Like, can you walk my dog?”

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