In the age of instant gratification, we're all Veruca Salt.
"Don't care how, I want it now," she sang in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. U.S. consumers increasingly feel the same way after years of watching deliveries arrive faster and having nearly every item they could want show up at their doorstep in just a few days. That's expensive for retailers, but it's not the only way to win customers.
While speed has always been important, shoppers are prioritizing it even more postpandemic, a trend that artificial intelligence will only bolster if automated systems make decisions based on delivery times too.
"While our initial goal was to rank retailers strictly on speed, we came away with a greater appreciation of the trade-off between speed, assortment, and price / delivery fee structure," writes Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman, whose team evaluated major retailers to rank how fast they could get items to customers. "No retailer has optimized on all three yet, and we believe these nuanced trade-offs will be critical in driving both consumer and agency-assisted purchasing decisions."
In other words, there is still room for more than one winner, especially in the key grocery category, where speed is more often a top priority.
Not surprisingly, Amazon.com is a "speed leader," with its Amazon Now service the fastest delivery available across Gutman's analysis, averaging approximately 25 minutes across multiple markets including Seattle, Philadelphia, Orlando, and Atlanta.
There's a catch, however, as Amazon Now services fewer markets and makes fewer products available for delivery compared with peers. That's "consistent with Amazon Now's hyperlocal fulfillment model that prioritizes speed over assortment breadth," he notes. And Whole Foods, Amazon Prime, and Amazon Fresh, were all well behind the competition, with average times ranging from 147 minutes to 279 minutes.
By contrast, Walmart "is one of the most complete models," Gutman writes, combining "tight execution, a broad assortment across both consumables and general merchandise, and national scale." Its top-tier speed is not far behind Amazon Now, at around 48 minutes, and it offers more goods and can use its more than 3,500 supercenters to bolster fulfillment.
Target averages some 126 minutes, meaning it's not a top performer but not so slow that consumers dismiss it out of hand, especially given its broad range of items it offers and brand loyalty from Circle members.
Among traditional grocers, Kroger and Albertsons Companies perform best, with average delivery times of about 43 minutes and 51 minutes, respectively, as they too have dense store networks they can lean on, helping them outperform national peers. In their core operating markets, their delivery times drop to just 40 minutes for Kroger and 47 minutes for Albertsons, "reinforcing our view that local store density can translate into a delivery advantage," Gutman writes.
Meanwhile Dollar General's partnership with DoorDash means that it offers a consistent one-house delivery promise, although its assortment varies by market.
In general, Walmart and Amazon are near the top of the heap in other categories outside of grocery as well, including home improvement, home furnishings, electronics, pet care, and beauty. Walmart was the speed leader in sporting goods and auto parts, although Gutman notes that O'Reilly Automotive was a strong second, and the best among the specialty auto-parts stores.
The fast pace of the modern world shows no signs of slowing, and retailers will have to keep racing to keep up.
Write to Teresa Rivas at teresa.rivas@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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July 01, 2026 14:11 ET (18:11 GMT)
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