Don’t touch: Walmart Enables Customers to Make a Purchase, Get a Delivery with No Contact

By Charisse Jones

USA TODAY‍

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Walmart customers will find in the coming days they can make a purchase, pick up an order and get a delivery with no contact required.

To conform with the social distancing recommended to slow the spread of COVID-19, shoppers buying groceries and other items through Walmart Pay will no longer have to tap a screen. Starting in the next week, they can scan a QR code with their phone and pay through the retailer’s app.

Interaction between shoppers and Walmart employees will also be limited. Those picking up purchases can open their trunk and Walmart staffers will load it without asking for a signature. And customers won’t have to sign for deliveries either. Drivers will just leave their items outside the front door.

“We’re in unprecedented times,” Janey Whiteside, executive vice president and Walmart’s chief customer officer said in a blog post. “We know customers want and need to be served differently. And, we’re moving quickly to adapt to those changing needs.” It’s one way we can help to add some stability to our customers’ lives. Businesses are taking numerous steps to reduce the risk of customers and employees becoming infected by the coronavirus.

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Walmart, Kroger and Albertsons are installing plexiglass sneeze guards at registers. Walmart and Kroger are also placing decals on store floors so shoppers know how to safely space themselves. And food delivery services such as Door Dash are leaving food purchases on door steps to avoid exchanging items with customers.