Can We Consider Walmart A Fair Competitors Online Success

CAN WE CONSIDER WALMART A FAIR COMPETITOR TO AMAZON’S ONLINE SUCCESS? Amazon’s victory is significant, keeping in mind that the company grew by 41% in the last fiscal year by $48.1 billion, that is, five times faster than Walmart, that grew only by a mere 8% (Fig 2). Indeed, Amazon’s world-wide popularity and recognition will be difficult to beat, with demographics of 237 million active customers worldwide, making it one of the most valuable brands in the world. Not only has Amazon seized the world with its e-commerce strategy, but it is also willing to forego profits to gain market share, making it difficult for Walmart to find a space in the online retailing spotlight. Not being hamstrung by an enormous brick-and-mortar business like†¦show more content†¦The reaction by Wal-Mart by the threat of Amazon was judged feeble. Wal-Mart failed to capture in 2007 the changing consumer environment and dynamism of the retail market and its chances of becoming a solid rival to Amazon were meager. Indeed, Walmart could not compete with Amazon’s successful business model, attracting the lower end of the income spectrum, not selling luxury goods for instance contrarily to Amazon. Walmart was and remains disadvantaged because of their higher real estate, labor and inventory costs; they do not enjoy economies of scale like Amazon. Nonetheless, today Walmart is fighting a fair battle against its largest competitor, seizing some of its glory and slowly escalating towards the top. Indeed, Walmart has the reputation of being the world’s largest retailer, third biggest public company and largest private employer. This has allowed it to become a worldwide negotiator, selling products at minimal prices, attracting middle-class customers looking for cheaper goods. As a result, Walmart’s competitive advantage over Amazon is having an abundant number of offline retail stores unlike Amazon. This allows customers to see and touch produ cts before deciding whether to buy online, or offline. Moreover, Walmart has seized a new market of customers: those unwilling to give out card information online. Through a service called â€Å"Pay by Cash†, Walmart has attracted, not only people without bank accounts or credit