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Walmart

Google and Walmart Partner with Eye on Amazon

By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI and MICHAEL CORKERY

Retrieved on August 23, 2017 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/technology/google-walmart-e-commerce-partnership.html

In one of the strategies aimed at taking on Amazon, Walmart has made tremendous efforts towards integrating its business within its vast network of stores globally. One of the strategies includes partnering with Google, one of the signature brands in online shopping. ‘Google and Walmart are testing the notion that an enemy’s enemy is a friend’ while at the same time making efforts to neutralize the threats that Amazon is presenting to the two companies. The partnership aims at enabling the Walmart customers to shop on Google Express which is on Walmart’s website. The dominance being experienced by Amazon in the online retail industry is offering a huge challenge to the ‘brick-and-mortar’ retailers such as Walmart.

Some of the reasons why Amazon is a threat range from its huge inventory, known efficiency as well as the convenience offered to its customers in the online retail business. Through the partnership, Walmart can also link their accounts to Google as a platform through which their clients’ consumer behavior can be monitored to predict the future. As asserted by Walmart's head of e-commerce section, Mark Lore “We are trying to help customers shop in ways that they may have never imagined.” The partnership is one of the basic steps being taken by Walmart to bolster its presence in the online business. While other retail businesses are still struggling to find ways of enhancing their sales volumes from the e-commerce opportunities available, Walmart can now undertake transactions aimed at ordering their groceries online and then pick them up the various stores. Other strategies include the $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com which is focusing much of its efforts towards the urban millennials. In spite of their efforts, Amazon is way ahead regarding the e-commerce business based on the volume of sales it makes as well as the traffic to its sites.

Economic Trends

The Amazon-Walmart Showdown That Explains the Modern Economy

Retrieved on September 18, 2017 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/upshot/the-amazon-walmart-showdown-that-explains-the-modern-economy.htmleil Irwin @Neil_Irwin

The level of competition between Walmart and Amazon is never ending because each one is trying to outdo another and be predominant in the industry. Walmart is investing substantially regarding technology while Amazon is striving to open more stalls. The level of competition between the two titans is shaping the modern economy in many fronts where many benefits accrue to the brand which carries the day. To the consumers, the rivalry is a blessing in disguise. However, it is affecting other aspects such as inequality, loss of jobs as well as on wages.

The two companies have been experiencing showdowns on how to be superior to another. While Amazon seems to be the dominant player in e-commerce, Walmart has presence globally because of its thousands of stores that sell hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods both in ‘suburban and rural areas and among low- and middle-income consumers.’ The acquisition of Bonobos by Walmart is an opportunity to increase its presence both in the online retail business as well as in the physical retail stores. This is enabling the company to reach out to its higher-end consumers in a more tech-savvy way. The effect of the rivalry is that it is advantaging the big companies while at the same time tilting markets towards a monopoly rather than allowing competitors to thrive.

The implication of such to the economy is on the rise of inequality experienced whereby some companies have been and still pay more to its workers than others. According to the Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, “Employees inside winning companies enjoy rising incomes and interesting cognitive challenges.” As the competition between the two retail businesses titans continues, the global economy is also changing where those retail businesses which are unable to compete on price and technology are experiencing challenges of being faced off.

Wal-Mart Brings Its Online Grocery Pickup to Amazon's Backyard

Matthew Boyle. Retrieved on September 6, 2017 from: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-06/wal-mart-brings-its-online-grocery-pickup-to-amazon-s-backyard

Amazon seems to be the force behind the kind of aggression being experienced at Walmart due to its efforts to revolutionize the online retail business. This is the rationale behind the teaming up of other companies whose technology advancement is felt in the online market. The strategies that Walmart has adopted to counter the e-commerce threat introduced to the market by Amazon are enormous. Having stuck to its traditional plans for the last five decades, Walmart is considering opening grocery stores at vantage points in those areas which are deemed to be the epicenter regarding market to its main rival, Amazon. ‘The brick-and-mortar giant’ has come up with strategies aimed at allowing its customers to ‘order food online and then retrieve items at their local store without leaving their cars.’ This plan is aimed at providing convenience to its clients. One of the strategies adopted by the titan is combining forces with other companies providing platforms for online transactions such as Google to counter the well-established online business and convenience presence that Amazon is registering in the retail industry. In its offensive strategy, Wal-Mart is attracting and awarding loyal customers through the provision of ‘Google Home connected devices’ to some of its clients who have opted to utilize the line of business. This is a new business front that the company is striving to expand in the recent times.

The threat that Amazon is introducing into the market is the introduction of online shopping in the super4market business where its customers can shop online and make payments at the comfort of their homes. The Amazon CEO’s aggression in the supermarket business is the rationale behind Walmart’s vicious efforts to acquire the ‘Whole Foods Market’ in a bid to establish its grocery outlets while at the same time enhance its grocery delivery.