What Is Walmart Jet?

How to Avoid Them: A Comparison of Two Online Stores

Have you ever felt disappointed after buying something online, only to find a cheaper option later? A new e-commerce site promises to be the cheapest on the Web. Jet.com was purchased by Walmart in August 2016 and is a shopping site that uses a mix of money-saving techniques in order to sway shoppers from places like Amazon and Best Buy.

Walmart bought Jet.com for $3 billion, but promised that the two brands would continue to operate independently. You'll probably see some changes to Walmart.com and Jet.com, but those who use Jet regularly can still look forward to the same wholesale-shopping experience. Walmart and Jet may get more aggressive in their discounts, because they both strive to provide lower prices than their competitors.

Walmart is Moving Forward in E-Commerce

The Jet.com acquisition was a big deal back in 2016 but it may look like Walmart threw away billions on an upstart website that never reached maturity. Walmart's e-commerce growth was fueled by Jet.com and its founder, who now runs the company's own e-commerce division. It seems like there is a time to relax Jet.

Walmart is doing well in the middle of the Pandemic because of strong demand for groceries and because restaurants are still closed. Walmart never made clear what it wanted to do with Jet.com. Doug McMillon was the first to praise the "smart basket" tool, which gave customers a discount as they added more items to their online shopping baskets.

Walmart seemed to eliminate Jet's key differentiating feature. Walmart made a number of acquisitions of digitally native brands like Bonobos, but has recently stepped back from that strategy. The company has executed on e-commerce since the acquisition of Jet.com.

One of its biggest growth drivers is online sales. Walmart is still losing money in e- commerce, but it is moving in the right direction. Jet.com was never profitable and the company should be able to stem the losses by letting go of it.

Walmart doesn't expect to take a significant accounting charge for the move, and it said the majority of Jet employees were moved within Walmart. The company gained operating leverage, a difficult feat that Target, Home Depot, and even Amazon couldn't accomplish, because of the company's 74% increase in e-commerce sales in the first quarter. The Jet acquisition is a major reason why Walmart's e-commerce business is stronger than ever.

Walmart's Acquisition of Jet.com

Jet.com paid off Walmart. Jet.com brought talent and digital knowhow to the area, putting pressure on the Walmart team to grow and stretch out of the status quo. Walmart is still Walmart in terms of look and feel and mindset when it comes to product and presentation.

Walmart.com is viable because of Jet.com. Walmart's acquisition of Jet.com in 2016 is just one example of how strategic acquisitions can help drive internal digital transformation plans. Walmart's leadership team had a long game strategy in mind when they acquired the e- commerce marketplace, which is a classic case where industry experts may have questioned it at the time.

Walmart's Scale, Customer Base and Capabilities

You might think that Walmart's scale, customer base, and capabilities would make it easy to sell online. E- commerce is very different from a brick-and-mortar business. Walmart uses a store-based distribution system that is very different from the one Amazon has been using for two decades.

The data, user interface design skills, and the analytic capabilities that are needed for e- commerce are not as common as they used to be. Walmart is used to being very slow in moving, but the rapid pace of innovation in e- commerce requires a very fast organization. The cultural challenge is the most difficult one to transition to an e-commerce model.

E-commerce requires an entrepreneurial culture where failure is part of the game. It's like asking an Olympic athlete who has trained his whole life as a weightlifter to suddenly become a gymnast. Walmart needed to buy to build its e-commerce capabilities.

Conversational Commerce in the New York City

Jetblack sources products from Walmart and Jet.com, but the company is also working with other retailers, including Pottery Barn, Gap, Bluemercury, and a few smaller boutiques in New York City. The chic, lightweight, recyclable bags that are used for delivery create a sense of style while saving members the chore of having to break down cardboard boxes. Conversational commerce has been a topic of discussion in the retail industry for a while, though it is still not widely adopted by both retailers and consumers. A report by Capgemini in January of last year found that only a small percentage of people in Western Europe and the US use virtual assistants to buy products, and only a small percentage of them make payments.