Walmart Stores Inc. has claimed that it’s online growth and e-tail market share has been more than Amazon’s this quarter. The company’s fourth quarter results show a 29 per cent rise in e-commerce sales as compared to 22 per cent for amazon in the same quarter. Walmart has credited much of this to its $3-billion purchase of e-retailer Jet.com in September last year.
Walmart’s U.S. comparable sales increased 1.8 per cent, driven by increased traffic, while total revenue for the fourth quarter was $130.9 billion. The company is the second largest online seller in the U.S. after Amazon.
Early in 2016, the retailer killed off the Walmart Express brand, selling some of its convenient store-sized locations to competitor Dollar General—and later that year, Walmart announced it would slow the pace of new store openings to focus more on keeping up with online competition.
Recently, in a move to try and take over Amazon’s customer base, Walmart announced free 2-day shipping on millions of items with a minimum order of $35, giving their e-commerce business a nice uptick. Amazon countered this by lowering its minimum order to $35 as well for non Prime members. Analysts were surprised by the ‘very quiet’ move, especially since Amazon always tom-toms user friendly schemes.
ALSO READ: 2016 Holiday Retail Analysis: Amazon VS. Walmart And Jet
However, even though Walmart outpaced Amazon by 7 per cent in its fourth quarter results, Amazon’s $136 billion in 2016, makes it the leader by far in the e-commerce market.
Walmart, however, boasts higher revenue all around with its massive network of retail locations and its overall revenue for fiscal 2017 was $485.9 billion, nearly four times Amazon’s.
In-store pickup of online orders at Walmart stores grew 27 per cent during the recent holiday season compared to 2015. In July 2016, Amazon followed Walmart’s curbside grocery pick-up model, letting customers order groceries online and pick them up on the same day.
Then in December, Amazon announced plans for a futuristic grocery store, foraying into Walmart’s brick-and-mortar stronghold.
MUST READ: Amazon plans to open grocery convenience stores: Report
And while Walmart waited a bit too long to invest in digital, investment is now accelerating, apparent with the acquisition of Moosejaw.
Even though Walmart outpaced Amazon by 7 per cent in its fourth quarter results, Amazon's $136 billion in 2016, makes it the leader by far in the e-commerce market
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