Amazon may finally have a formidable competitor

[Mackin USA]

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) is reportedly in talks to acquire online retailer Jet.com, a move that should have the executives at Amazon.com a little nervous.

https://beta.finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-jet-amazon-competitor-000000729.html

[DrCool]

Biggest problem with Wal-Mart's online operations is they are still somewhat tied to the brick and mortar stores. So the leadership is always hesitant to make decisions that would benefit online if they would be taking away from in-store sales. Until they split the online portion of the business away from B&M they will never be close to Amazon.

[rcjordan]

What Walmart Gets From Jet.com

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/08/walmart-jet-deal/494960/

[Mackin USA]

'I think it is a terrible mistake': Ex-Sears executive says
Walmart just wasted $3 billion on Jet.com

https://beta.finance.yahoo.com/news/think-terrible-mistake-ex-sears-181300726.html

[nffc]

"former Sears Canada CEO"

Maybe be harsh but I'm not confident in the guys judgement.

[Drastic]

Maybe be harsh but I'm not confident in the guys judgement.

I thought the same thing, except without the harsh part.

"Cohen, now the director of retail studies at Columbia Business School, said in an interview with Business Insider. "It looks and feels like a 'Hail Mary' pass. I think it is a terrible mistake.""

Proving the old adage about those who can't teach...

Plus how is it a hail mary, if it fails they lost maybe most of their profit from online sales only from one year.

[rcjordan]

I just received some household items from an AMAZON FBA that is apparently Walmart in disguise.  They arrived in boxes ablaze with Walmart.com logo & text --so much so, that I first thought there had to be some mistake, I didn't order anything from WM ...even checked with Louise to see if they were hers somehow.  Inside, the items were marked with WM stickers.

I guess figures the only way to beat AMZ is to use them as a marketer/distributor and try to do a little Trojan-ing of AMZ customer base.  It'll be interesting to see if WM starts spamming me directly now.

[littleman]

Are you sure you ordered an FBA item?  That sounds like WM->AM arbitrage.  The way it works is that people scout out items that are selling at a lower cost at WM and then do a ghost sell on Amazon.  If you order the item they have WM ship it directly to you and make a small profit.  Typically the margins are very thin, but it can be done on a massive scale.

[rcjordan]

I'll bet that's it. It was def shipped by WM, but I can find nothing really identifying it as drop-ship.  Remind me in Wilmington and we'll dig through the merchant's store. Could be some money items in there for you.

[DrCool]

Amazon buys Whole Foods for $13.7 billion http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/16/amazon-is-buying-whole-foods-in-a-deal-valued-at-13-point-7-billion.html

And another headline on the same page: Wal-Mart drops 6%, Kroger dives 11% in premarket on Amazon-Whole Foods deal: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/16/wal-mart-drops-4-percent-kroger-dives-12-percent-in-premarket-on-amazon-whole-foods-deal.html

Wonder if it is a strike at Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Markets or a pre-emptive buy to keep it out of the hands of Wal-Mart.

[Mackin USA]

http://th3core.com/talk/water-coolerextra/amazon-is-buying-whole-foods-in-a-deal-valued-at-$13-7-billion/?topicseen

[DrCool]

And Wal-Mart buys Bonobos for $310 million: https://www.recode.net/2017/6/16/15815178/walmart-bonobos-acquisition-price-310-million

[rcjordan]

Walmart Gives Disappointing Outlook as E-Commerce Growth Flags

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/walmart-gives-disappointing-outlook-as-e-commerce-growth-flags

Uh-oh, the CEO is talking in CEO-speak:

"We're making decisions to position the business for success," McMillon said

[Mackin USA]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/walmart-gives-disappointing-outlook-as-e-commerce-growth-flags

[rcjordan]

Walmart Q1 e-commerce sales surge 74% as company shuts down Jet.com, acquired for 3.3b in 2016
https://www.zdnet.com/article/walmart-q1-e-commerce-sales-surge-74-as-company-shuts-down-jet-com-acquired-for-3-3b-in-2016/