Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 31 May 2017
Wal-Mart works to close gap between itself and Amazon

ANNE D’INNOCENZIO whether it be direct-to-
AP Retail Writer home, grocery pickup or
HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) — Even going to the physical store.”
after an online spending Its 4,700 stores are a strength
spree, it may be hard for for Wal-Mart, as they buck
Wal-Mart to escape the the larger retail trend in
Amazon in the room. seeing increases in shop-
Wal-Mart’s acquisition of per numbers and sales. The
Jet.com and brands that discount for store pickup is
appeal to younger shop- helping bring shoppers in.
pers have given it an e- Wal-Mart says even the ex-
commerce boost as it works pansion of stores with curb-
to close the gap between side pickup for groceries is
itself and the online leader. also helping, since people
The world’s largest retailer often realize they forgot
is betting on essentials like an item or two and run into
cereal and diapers, and the store. And as rivals like
has adjusted its shipping Target struggle to get their
strategy to better compete grocery departments right,
with Amazon’s Prime pro- Wal-Mart is placing a prior-
gram. ity on essentials like peanut
But Amazon keeps inno- In this Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013, file photo, two Wal-Mart employees walk past a sign in the butter, paper towels and
vating too, implementing lobby at the Walmart.com office in San Bruno, Calif. fresh produce that shop-
new technology and trying Associated Press pers buy often.
to make shopping more a discount for shoppers widening,” Spitz said. “Jet. year Prime program spend Amazon’s stores are mainly
convenient. who pick up their online com was intended to be a on average 2.7 times more showcases for gadgets, or
Marc Lore, a co-founder of orders. Walmart.com now jolt. Wal-Mart is clearly be- than others. are textbook- and furniture-
Jet.com who is now head offers 50 million products ing more aggressive. There If Amazon’s relationship pickup locations aimed
of Wal-Mart’s U.S. online including those from third- is a sense of urgency, but with Prime members con- at college students. But it
operations, says he’s con- party sellers, up from 10 mil- whether that is enough is tinues to grow, Melich said keeps innovating, and it’s
fident about the compa- testing an Amazon Go con-
ny’s momentum and that venience store, where sen-
there’s plenty of room for it sors track items as shoppers
to thrive. go and there’s no need
“I can tell you we are hap- to check out. Moreover,
py with the moves we are Amazon also launched two
making, and we are happy grocery pickup kiosks in Se-
with the results,” Lore said attle that allow Prime cus-
at the Jet headquarters tomers to buy fresh items
in Hoboken, New Jersey. online and pick it up in as
“It’s about moving fast. It’s little as 15 minutes instead
about innovating. And it’s of having them delivered.
a very big market.” He not- The service is free, and
ed that e-commerce sales there’s no order minimum.
industrywide are still grow- Shipping remains intensely
ing 15 percent per year. competitive. Amazon Prime
Lore led Wal-Mart’s acqui- members in more than
sitions of specialty online 5,000 cities and towns can
retailers like ModCloth, receive orders the same
Moosejaw and ShoeBuy. day or the next, depending
com, and said he’s still on the item and location.
looking at companies that Through Prime Now, mem-
have expertise in catego- bers in more than 30 cities
ries where Wal-Mart wants In this Thursday, April 27, 2017, file photo, people walk past an Amazon Go store, currently open can get some items in an
to grow faster. only to Amazon employees, in Seattle. hour or two.
As Wal-Mart prepares to Associated Press “We’ve had competition
show off some of its inno- every day of our existence
vations this week before its lion a year ago. In compari- the multibillion-dollar ques- recently, then Amazon’s at Amazon and it’s never
shareholder meeting, there son, Amazon has hundreds tion.” path toward Wal-Mart’s 9 changed our approach,”
are signs that things are of millions of products. Amazon accounted for percent of the total U.S. re- Amazon says. “We obsess
starting to click. David Spitz, CEO of e-com- 33 percent of U.S. online tail market from its current 3 over customers and the
Sales at Walmart.com merce technology com- sales last year, according percent is “reasonable.” things we believe custom-
rose 63 percent in the first pany ChannelAdvisor, says to the research firm Euro- If Lore is worried, he doesn’t ers will always care about
quarter, up from 29 per- for some shoppers it has monitor. Wal-Mart moved acknowledge it. — low prices, vast selec-
cent growth in the previ- become ingrained that into second place ahead “We don’t think specifical- tion, and fast delivery.”
ous quarter and marking they start and finish their of eBay, with 7.8 percent. ly about Prime at all,” he Wal-Mart has revamped its
its fourth straight quarter shopping at Amazon, and Greg Melich, an analyst at said. “We think we (have) shipping program and now
of increases. Wal-Mart said the Prime program reinforc- research firm Evercore, es- got a customer base — offers free, two-day ship-
most of the increase was es that. He said Wal-Mart timates that Amazon cus- those customers who want ping for online orders of its
not through acquisitions wasn’t putting a sufficient tomers spend an average to be able to save money most popular items with a
but was fueled by changes emphasis on keeping up. of $800 annually on the site, and they want to be able minimum purchase order
in its shipping strategy and “If anything, the gap was and members of its $99-a- to shop in different ways, of $35. q