Walmart to compete with Amazon

[billbenson]

Below is a quote from the article and a link to it. Essentially Walmart is loosing customers to Amazon so they need to update their web marketing strategy to compete. It will be interesting to see what they do.


The bottom line: Wal-Mart, which gets less than 2 percent of its U.S. sales online, aims to bolster its technical capabilities to compete with Amazon.Why Wal-Mart is Worried about Amazon - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-wal-mart-is-worried-about-amazon.html)

[huggytree]

i buy almost everything from Amazon.com

my wife buys all the kids b-day gifts and Christmas gifts...i buy all my tools for work there....

it makes sense for Walmart to compete....they are the physical store version of Amazon.com

[KristineS]

This is funny to me because my perception of the brands is so different. Wal-Mart, to me anyway, is bargain basement junk. I don't buy anything there. Amazon, on the other hand, gets my business a lot, although to be fair, most of it is books and videos and things like that. I can't see Wal-Mart luring me away from Amazon. To me, Amazon is just the better brand.

[billbenson]

Walmart is very different in different places. In affluent areas they carry higher end products.Not top of the line, but higher end. Also, where I live there is a large Mexican population. They have a lot of Mexican and Cuban food products that aren't available in Walmarts in other areas.

Something else they do that is smart is if you buy online, they will ship to the store closest to you for free

I think where the business model changes dramatically is Amazon has the affiliate stores, web hosting products etc.

I absolutely hate shopping at Walmart. Still I keep an ongoing list and go in there every two months or so, usually in the late evening to avoid the weird people that tend to shop there and the crowds.

[Business Attorney]

Walmart is the world's largest retailer. They carry a huge number of brand name products, so I don't know how it earned Kristine's perception of "bargain basement junk." The SuperCenters carry pretty much the same grocery items as any supermarket except for the "upscale" sections that many chains are adding these days. Most of the electronics are the same as you get at Best Buy or any other major electronics store, sans the top-of-the line audiophile items. Ditto for housewares, garden supplies, etc... Clothing is really the only thing that I think stays solidly toward the low end.

By the way, while Walmart wants to beef up its online sales, Amazon is consider opening its first physical store in Seattle: Amazon Reported To Be Opening Its First Physical Store (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/06/amazon-bricks-and-mortar-physical-stores_n_1258483.html)

[Harold Mansfield]

I pretty much buy everything from Amazon. I don't think I've ever had a bad experience, or had anything not show up on time.
I've seen Walmart's online situation and it needs some work.

Seems like the buy it online and pick it up at the store thing would be nice since there is a walmart in almost every nieghborhod, but it would take A LOT to get me to stop shopping Amazon.

[jamesray50]

I shop at Wal-mart sometimes, but usually the only time I shop at Amazon is for books. Maybe I should check them out more often. I did join ebates.com and shop through their website so I can get cash back. I got an $87 check the first time. I do find with the stores on ebates (and so far I have always found what I was looking for) are competitive, but the higher the percent of discount does not necessarily mean the cost of the item will be comparable to another store with a lesser discount.

Interesting article billbenson, thanks for sharing.

[AlexMc]

I'm not much of a Wal-Mart shopper (K-Mart actually :p ) But personally I see WM and Amazon being very different, just as KristineS has said, but I wouldn't say WM is junk at all. If I need something I know I could find at WM, I'd be more likely to go to the store and browse than go look on Amazon. For more specific items, I'll turn to an Amazon search.
I really hope both can stay successful and not have to worry as much about competition and potentially lose customers from it.

[BP Writer]

Here's my experience with Walmart last week -- I found an item that normally retails for $56 on sale on their web site for $45, and Amazon was offering it for the same price with free shipping. I went to the closest Walmart, found the item on the shelf priced at $56, and had an employee inform me that I couldn't buy it for the $45 web price, I would actually have to order it online and then have it shipped to the store. So I went home and ordered it online...from Amazon because I was also able to order a book I have been wanting and a musical keyboard stand as well (and they were delivered to my door, saving me a trek to the store). I think Walmart has its work cut out for it -- and they are further disadvantaged because I think they have to charge sales tax online since they have stores located in every state -- not the case with Amazon (although with state finances being what they are, Amazon is coming under more pressure to collect sales tax). It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.