In an effort to not be left behind in the dust, Walmart has become the newest retailer to offer in-home furniture and appliance set up for its customers. The news comes just days after Swedish furniture giant Ikea announced that its recent acquisition of TaskRabbit would now allow its customers to hire Taskers in order to help assemble purchases that can often otherwise be quite difficult to figure out.
Walmart’s offering builds upon not an acquisition, but a similar partnership — one with the on-demand service company Handy. Thanks to this new collaboration, the retail giant will now offer Handy’s installation and assembly services to folks in more than 40 percent of its 5,000 total U.S. locations.
The new offering will be made available first in 45 states and can help with anything from putting your furniture together to mounting your new television set. Customers only need to indicate that they would like to take advantage of the service at checkout and then schedule a Handy appointment sometime between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. local time.
“Retail is being pushed to deliver even better customer service, and we are a part of that,” Handy CEO Oisin Hanrahan said in a statement. “We know people think about these services at the point of sale.”
It seems that folks are already ready for Handy’s services, as the company has actually been running a pilot with Walmart since last October. Twenty-five Walmart stores across the country already offer the setup and installation add-on, and now, a couple thousand more will join their ranks beginning in April.
So how much will this cost you? Furniture assembly is $59 (though it is unclear if this varies based on how much furniture you buy or how complex it might be), whereas television mounting will set you back $79.
Walmart isn’t the only company that Handy is helping out these days. Just last year, it offered a similar partnership to Wayfair customers who wanted help assembling their online furniture purchases. Ultimately, the idea is that the easier it is for folks to actually set up a new bookshelf or install a new TV, the more unlikely it is that they will change their mind to return the product later — a win-win for everyone involved.
