Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is dipping its toes into the same-day delivery market, as the retail giant announced today that it has acquired Brooklyn-based startup Parcel Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

Founded in 2013, Parcel bills itself as a “last-mile delivery solution” that can integrate with existing ecommerce platforms through its application program interface. User who signed up for Parcel could schedule a delivery within a 2-hour window, much like the same-day delivery options offered by Amazon.com Inc. in select cities.

Unlike Amazon, however, Parcel’s deliveries are made through an all-employee workforce. Many of Amazon’s same-day deliveries are made by Amazon Flex drivers, who are classified as subcontractors rather than full-time employees.

Nate Faust, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. eCommerce Supply Chain, said that the company’s initial plan with Parcel will be to continue serving its existing users in New York City and expanding the startup’s customer base. In the long term, the company plans to use Parcel to offer same-day deliveries of merchandise and groceries from both Wal-Mart and its subsidiary Jet.com.

“Customers’ expectations around delivery and what is possible have changed significantly in the past couple of years,” Faust said in an interview on Wal-Mart’s official blog. “Whatever they need and however they’d like it, we aim to provide – including the ability to offer last-minute ordering with same-day delivery service. And while customers are looking for low prices, we also know they want convenient experiences that make shopping easier.”

Faust added that New York City is a top market for Wal-Mart and Jet, both because of its population density and because of its proximity to some of Wal-Mart’s distribution centers. Faust said the city is the “perfect place for high-impact innovation.”

The two companies did not disclose the terms of the detail, but Recode reported that a source familiar said that Wal-Mart paid $10 million to acquire Parcel, and Wal-Mart noted in a fact sheet for the deal that the price was “smaller than previous acquisitions we’ve made this year.” Parcel had raised just under $2 million in funding before the acquisition.

Photo: Wal-Mart Stores