Imagine the scene: you’ve just stepped through the front door for the long-anticipated Christmas Eve dinner with your in-laws, the aroma of cinnamon and roast turkey filling the air. As coats are hung and greetings exchanged, your niece excitedly announces that she’s been wishing for a talking plush Bluey doll. Without breaking the festive flow of conversation, you swiftly open your smartphone’s shopping app, locate the exact toy she mentioned, and with a single effortless tap, place the order. By the time dessert is brought to the table—perhaps a freshly baked pie waiting to be topped with whipped cream—you hear a soft knock at the door. The package has arrived, right on cue. In fact, if you happened to forget that whipped cream altogether, the same rapid delivery system could even take care of that last-minute omission in minutes.
This kind of near-instant gratification, once an unimaginable luxury, is now steadily becoming part of modern retail reality. The transformation is driven by major retailers fiercely competing to refine ultra-fast delivery systems capable of getting gifts, groceries, and essentials into customers’ hands faster than ever before. Walmart, for instance, has taken a significant leap in this arena. In an exclusive conversation with *Business Insider*, the company revealed that shoppers will now have the flexibility to place store-fulfilled express delivery orders as late as 5 p.m. local time on Christmas Eve—extending the cutoff by a full hour compared to the previous year. This adjustment underscores the retailer’s ongoing commitment to making convenience and reliability hallmarks of its holiday service.
David Guggina, Walmart’s Chief E-commerce Officer, emphasized in an official statement that Express Delivery has become a cornerstone of the shopping experience, particularly during December, when the need for speed peaks. “More people are using Express Delivery to get their items faster, and December is when it truly shines,” Guggina noted, highlighting how the retailer’s logistical infrastructure scales up during the festive season. He added, “No one delivers for customers like Walmart, from the first holiday deal to the final gift on Christmas Eve.” His words capture Walmart’s strategic ambition to set itself apart not just through competitive pricing, but through an end-to-end service experience that prioritizes both precision and immediacy.
Today, Walmart’s delivery capability is formidable: the company can reach approximately 95% of U.S. households in three hours or less. This achievement is part logistics triumph, part technological innovation. More than a third of shoppers, according to the company, are choosing to pay a modest fee for the convenience of receiving their purchases in one hour or less—a clear demonstration of how time has become a valuable currency in consumer behavior. In December alone, Walmart experiences a 2.5-fold surge in express delivery orders compared to the annual average, illustrating how the holiday crunch fuels this appetite for speed.
To enhance this seamless shopping journey even further, Walmart recently launched a new feature called “Get it Now” within its mobile app. This addition offers customers an ultra-transparent experience, displaying precisely how many minutes an item is expected to take before arriving at their doorstep. With a single tap, the order is confirmed, eliminating friction from the process and reflecting the company’s deep investment in user-friendly digital design. Earlier this month, Walmart announced that it fulfilled its fastest Black Friday order in a mere 10 minutes, an impressive milestone achieved through the growing synergy between physical stores and their rapid-delivery infrastructure.
Yet, Walmart is not alone in this technological arms race for ultrafast fulfillment. Retail giants like Amazon and Target are also intensifying their efforts to dominate the last-minute holiday delivery landscape. Target, for example, offers a range of quick-turnaround options for Christmas Eve customers—orders can be ready within two hours for curbside or in-store pickup, while those desiring doorstep convenience can select same-day delivery for a $9.99 fee. With most stores open until 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Target aims to blend flexibility with accessibility for shoppers navigating tight schedules.
Amazon, ever the pioneer in logistics precision, is likewise ensuring that procrastinators won’t be left empty-handed. The company labels eligible products with a reassuring “Arrives before Christmas” message, signaling items that can still arrive by Christmas Eve, whether shipped directly or made available at one of the company’s 25,000 pickup locations nationwide. Through such innovations, Amazon reinforces its reputation for speed and dependability, while maintaining attention to customer trust during the year’s busiest shopping period.
Taken together, these developments reflect a broader evolution in retail, where convenience, speed, and digital synchronization are redefining the consumer experience. What was once a frantic, last-minute dash through crowded stores on Christmas Eve has now become a streamlined, nearly instantaneous process powered by technology and logistics mastery. The modern shopper can, quite literally, order a gift between dinner courses and have it delivered before the plates are cleared—proof that the age of true on-demand holiday convenience has officially arrived.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-extends-christmas-eve-delivery-hours-2025-12
