- Walmart and Amazon are competing in nearly every facet of their businesses.
- This race started with Walmart acquiring Jet.com in August 2016. This was Walmart’s direct hit against Amazon’s web presence and an apparent signal that the company was ready to compete.
Walmart and Amazon are competing in nearly every facet of their businesses. I’ve written about some areas recently including their approaches to innovation and the evolving role of the merchant within their organizations. Another area that’s a heavy focus for both organizations? The race to the top for their physical and digital presences.
This race started with Walmart acquiring Jet.com in August 2016. This was Walmart’s direct hit against Amazon’s web presence and an apparent signal that the company was ready to compete.
It didn’t take long, though, for Amazon to strike back with an acquisition of Whole Foods in June 2017. As I previously wrote, the goal of that acquisition was for Amazon to gain more of the rich data behind the Whole Foods customer and to garner all of the private label brands that the grocer had accumulated.
Since last summer, the organization has been looking at ways to leverage that acquisition with services like Amazon Lockers and Amazon Go to bolster its physical presence.
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Much like with ecommerce, convenience is key for shoppers in the physical world. A main priority for Amazon is to shorten the time it takes for a consumer to complete a shopping trip. Amazon Go Is all about creating a frictionless shopping experience. It opened to the public in January 2018 and promised no cashiers or checkout lines and a streamlined shopping experience. This can be extremely beneficial given that in the past year, 86% of U.S. consumers said they left a store due to long lines, resulting in a purchase at a different retailer or no purchase at all according to 451 Research.
Date: July 12, 2018
Source: Forbes