According to Retail Dive, Walmart enabled shoppers to add Dunkin' orders to their grocery delivery, creating a bundled transaction at checkout. The mechanism is simple: a customer building a grocery cart sees Dunkin' as an available add-on before finalizing the order, collapsing two separate transactions into one fulfillment window. The result, per the retailer's internal data, was an 18% lift in average basket size for orders that included the Dunkin' option, with conversion rates on the add-on hitting 22% among customers who saw the prompt.
What Walmart did was insert a third-party SKU set into its existing checkout architecture. The Dunkin' menu appeared as a module in the delivery flow, not as a separate app or loyalty integration. The customer selects items from Dunkin', adds them to the Walmart cart, and receives both in a single delivery. Walmart handled fulfillment logistics through DoorDash, which already serviced its grocery delivery network, so no new carrier onboarding was required. The play turned a convenience brand into a margin-accretive impulse category.
The underlying mechanism is checkout momentum. A customer who has already committed to a grocery order and entered payment details faces dramatically lower friction for an incremental purchase. The add-on rides the same decision frame, the same delivery window, and the same payment method. Dunkin' benefits from Walmart's traffic without paying for acquisition or operating its own delivery logistics. Walmart captures margin on the Dunkin' transaction and increases the perceived value of its delivery service, making the $10 delivery fee easier to justify. The customer consolidates errands, which is the behavioral hook that makes the bundle stick.
The steal for a smaller physical-product brand is to become the add-on in someone else's checkout. Identify a complementary product or service that already has your customer's wallet open. If you sell premium coffee beans, approach a meal-kit company about appearing as an add-on in their checkout flow. If you make desk accessories, talk to office-supply vendors with existing subscription boxes. The pitch is simple: your product increases their basket size, they provide you distribution and fulfillment at a fraction of your standalone customer acquisition cost.
Negotiate a revenue-share model, not an upfront placement fee. Offer the partner 15-20% of the sale in exchange for checkout real estate and fulfillment inclusion. Build a three-item curated menu, not your full catalog, so the decision is fast. Use their photography standards and their payment rails. Test the placement for 90 days with a target of 10% attach rate on eligible orders. If you hit that, expand the SKU set. If you don't, adjust your offer or your price point, not the partner relationship.
The broader pattern is that physical-product brands no longer need to own the entire customer journey to capture margin. The checkout moment is the highest-value real estate in commerce, and the brands that win are the ones that show up when the wallet is already open. Dunkin' didn't build a new platform. It rode Walmart's. Your next customer is already buying something. Find that transaction and get in the cart.