Same-day pickup has new player with Wal-Mart

First there was "ship to store." You bought something online but to save on shipping costs, you picked it up in the store. It saved money but not time.

Then stores such as Best Buy added "pick up today" for online orders. Even so, picking up an item is rarely as quick as, say, a drive-through pharmacy.

Now the largest retailer, Wal-Mart, could change the scope of the pick-up-today option when it adds the service this summer. I predict it will be a huge success -- if there's a drive-through pickup lane to make it quick.

Until that happens, here's a snapshot of retailers that offer in-store pickup of online orders or a variation.

Best Buy and Sears have some items available for same-day pickup at a store and others that can be shipped to a store.

Cabela's doesn't offer same-day pickup, but almost any item ordered online can be picked up in the store within five to eight business days.

J Crew and Lands' End don't offer site to store, but you can get free shipping to your home if you order in one of the stores.

REI doesn't offer same-day pickup yet, but online orders ship to the store within seven to 10 business days.

Target doesn't offer in-store pickup. That might change later this year when Target switches its online platform from Amazon to in-house.

Wal-Mart offers thousands of online-only items that take four to five business days to get to the store. Most Wal-Mart stores in Minnesota are now offering same-day service on thousands of items, which will expand to 40,000 items by the end of the year. When ordering online, designate the location where you'd like to pick up the items as "my store." You will have to choose another store if a location does not yet offer "pick-up-today" service.