@Walmart eyeing @Jets to better compete against @Amazon, but it’s all about Prime
It’s being reported that Wal-mart (WMT) is eyeing online shopping portal Jet.com in a bid to better compete against online and mobile shopping juggernaut Amazon (AMZN). We can’t argue with Wal-mart’s initiative as we head into the seasonally strong second half of the year shopping season, but simply acquiring a company to improve its digital footprint will not be enough. In order to succeed, Wal-mart will have to more than match Amazon’s ever increasing offering and compressing time to customer that makes it’s Prime service not only super sticky with consumers, but a great bargain as well. That’s likely to be a very difficult marching order.
Wal-Mart Stores is in talks to buy start-up Jet.com, an online retailer that has styled itself as a challenger to Amazon, the Wall Street Journal reported. The acquisition would give a big boost to Wal-Mart’s digital efforts, as well as its efforts to compete with Amazon. At the company’s annual shareholders meetings in June, Wal-Mart CEO Doug said the discounter planned to become more aggressive in growing its online business.
Source: Report: Wal-Mart in talks to buy Amazon competitor, Jet.com | Chain Store Age
