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NEW YORK — Walmart said Aug. 24 it will start farming out its delivery service, using contract workers, autonomous vehicles and other means to transport rival retailers’ products directly to their customers’ homes in as little as a few hours.

Walmart Inc.’s pandemic-driven gains in e-commerce slowed last quarter and profit margin fell, raising questions about the retailer’s ability to maintain momentum even after it topped Wall Street’s sales expectations.

Not to be outdone, Walmart and Target have announced they will hold big sales that will compete with Amazon Prime Day.

Walmart Inc. posted strong quarterly sales growth and boosted its profit outlook, an impressive feat as the retailer faced a difficult comparison with last year’s pandemic-fueled stockpiling. The shares rose in premarket trading.

Amazon.com Inc. will supplant Walmart Inc. as the biggest U.S. retailer by 2025, according to a new report, suggesting the e-commerce giant has too much momentum for Walmart to stop despite big investments in its own e-commerce offerings.

Walmart is taking an undisclosed stake in Cruise, the autonomous-vehicle technology company that’s majority-owned by General Motors Co.

NEW YORK — Walmart is moving more of its workers full time, with the goal of having two-thirds of its U.S. store hourly jobs be full time with more consistent work schedules by early next year.

Walmart Inc. has removed rules requiring sellers on its marketplace website to be registered in the U.S. — an attempt to close the e-commerce gap with Amazon .com Inc. and tap into China’s vast network of manufacturers.

Walmart Inc. pledged to support American manufacturers by spending an additional $350 billion on items made, grown or assembled in the U.S. over the next 10 years.

NEW YORK — Walmart is enlisting the help of robots to keep up with a surge in online orders.