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Walmart Canada cancels grocery pickup fee, two years after launching service

Walmart Canada is cancelling a fee it charges shoppers who order groceries online for pickup in stores.
7931924_web1_Walmart

Walmart Canada is cancelling a fee it charges shoppers who order groceries online for pickup in stores.

The retail giant had charged customers $2.97 for the service when it launched it in July 2015 in Ottawa.

The online grocery pickup service later expanded to the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary and Edmonton.

The move comes as grocers brace for increasing competition, particularly online, in a business where profit margins can be thin.

In June, Amazon announced a US$13.7-billion deal to buy Whole Foods, an acquisition that some industry observers say could upend the supermarket sector.

Experts have said the move could force Canadian grocery chains, some of which have been slow to embrace e-commerce compared to their U.S. counterparts, to boost their online services.