Amazon Is Coming After Walmart’s Biggest Delivery Advantage

Key takeaways

• Amazon plans a ten‑fold expansion of its same‑day delivery network to challenge Walmart’s proximity advantage, investing $6.8 billion to reach 1,000+ facilities by 2031.
• $6.8 billion investment over 3 years
• $7.1 billion economic value over 10 years
• 1,000+ facilities by 2031

What happened

Bank of America analyst Justin Post said Amazon could expand its same‑day delivery network more than tenfold under Project Mercury, targeting over 1,000 fulfillment facilities by 2031 from 85 today. The plan would cover about 90,000 of Amazon’s fastest‑selling products, including household essentials, fresh items and medicines, and is expected to cost $6.8 billion over three years. Amazon’s goal is to bring same‑day capacity within 10 miles of 80 % of U.S. Prime members by 2031, compared with…

Why it matters

The expansion would erode Walmart’s proximity advantage, a key driver of its retail dominance, and could improve Amazon’s retail margins through denser fulfillment and automation. Although the projected economic value of $7.1 billion over ten years is modest relative to Amazon’s scale, the project is strategically…

Short-term and longer-term

Short-term. Short‑term traders should watch Amazon’s fulfillment‑network expansion as a catalyst for near‑term revenue lift and margin improvement.

Longer-term. Long‑term investors should view Project Mercury as a strategic bet on Amazon’s ability to close the proximity gap with Walmart, potentially boosting retail margins and reinforcing Amazon’s competitive moat.