Never Count Walmart Out (Editorial)

We were surprised to learn recently that Walmart ranked in the top three in e-commerce sales in the United States, at No. 3 behind No. 2 Apple and No. 1 Amazon, according to eMarketer, a market research company (and as detailed in last week’s article on the biggest deals in Arkansas in 2017). Although Walmart doesn’t report dollar figures for online sales, an April 2017 story in WWD put the Bentonville retailer’s sales for the trailing 12-month period at $14.4 billion, with Apple at $16.8 billion and Amazon at $94.7 billion.

We confess that because of Amazon’s dominance in e-commerce, we had doubted Walmart’s ability to catch up. Knowing that the future of retail is online, we feared a long, slow decline as Sam Walton’s creation struggled to avoid becoming the next Sears. Although Amazon’s online sales still dwarf Walmart’s — Amazon accounted for about 44 percent of all U.S. e-commerce sales last year — Walmart has made it clear that it won’t go gentle into that good night. The biggest indication of its determination to fight for the online market was its $3.3 billion purchase of online retailer Jet.com in 2016.

Subsequent acquisitions — Bonobos, a men’s clothing company, for $310 million; Moosejaw, a seller of outdoor gear, $51 million; and Modcloth, a women’s fashion retailer, for a price put at between $50 million and $75 million, all in 2017 — only confirm Walmart’s determination to challenge Jeff Bezos’ behemoth on its home turf.

And last week’s announcement that Sam’s Club, Walmart’s warehouse component, would offer premium members free shipping shows the retailer’s commitment to besting rival Costco.

We’d be cheering for Walmart to succeed based on its importance to Arkansas’ economy alone. But consumers benefit when companies battle for their dollars. And, of course, we just like a good fight.