Walmart bringing home grocery delivery to Vancouver

Walmart is seen in this file photo. (CTV Barrie Chris Garry)

VANCOUVER -- Walmart Canada Corp. says it is partnering with an online grocery service to bring home delivery to Vancouver by the summer, as the brick-and-mortar retailer ramps up its effort in the country to compete with Amazon.

The arrangement will see Walmart work with Vancouver-based Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery to bring its food delivery platform, Food-X Urban Delivery Inc., to Walmart.ca customers in the city's metro area.

The move expands upon similar efforts announced last November by Walmart to grow its home delivery service to cover the Greater Toronto Area and nearby markets.

Food-X's resources include a soon-to-be completed 6,900 sq. metre state-of-the-art warehouse with proprietary technology SPUD has been refining for the past 20 years to get food from the supplier to the kitchen in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.

Canadian grocers have been increasing their e-commerce offerings following Amazon's $14 billion acquisition of Whole Foods last summer, which sparked speculation about its ambitions to grow food delivery in Canada.

Metro Inc. announced late last that year that it was looking to expand its online grocery offerings to Ontario in 2018.