But - perhaps in a very intentional bit of timing - nearly at the same time that Walmart announced its Bonobos acquisition, Amazon announced it would be buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, giving it a very, very significant leg up in its budding food retail business.
To view the full article, register now. According to Macquarie Research, Amazon already accounts for 50% of all consumer retail spending online, and with its Whole Foods acquisition Amazon seems to be aiming right for Walmart's heart, as groceries account for half of Wal-Mart's $486 billion in revenue. Dunn will oversee the company's collection of online brands - including Bonobos - which will be offered on Jet.com and possibly other sites. Since the start of 2017, Walmart.com has unveiled two-day free shipping with no membership fee, extra discounts for picking up orders in stores and easy ordering online and in stores.
"We're seeing momentum in the business as we expand our value proposition with customers and it's incredible to see how fast we're moving", Marc Lore, Wal-Mart's USA e-commerce chief, said in a statement.
"Adding innovators like Andy will continue to help us shape the future of Wal-Mart", Lore said. It also means that Bonobos clothing is not available on Amazon.com.
In a blog post, Bonobos founder and CEO Dunn wrote about the decision to sell to the corporate giant. "At the time we began discussions a couple months ago, we were an inch from signing another deal that would have kept us on an independent path". "So with so many customers shopping there.as you're looking to grow your e-commerce presence, it's important to be where your customers are". It's blurring the lines between its brick-and-mortar and online stores with "Easy Reorder", which shows a customer's in-store purchases on their account online and allows them to click to make a repeat purchase online. Bonobos is the crown jewel of these deals, though. ModCloth, a women's clothing and accessories online retailer, is now also owned by Walmart.
The strategy also includes acquisitions which have given Wal-Mart more ground to stand on in high-margin categories like apparel.
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"What Moosejaw, ModCloth, Bonobos all have in common is not only that they are apparel retailers, but they have very authentic voices with a particular group", said Laura Kennedy, an analyst with research firm Kantar Retail.
Kennedy said it's still too early to tell if the acquisition piece of the company's online strategy will be successful.
Walmart said that in the last quarter its e-commerce sales were up 63 percent, with "the majority coming from organic growth in Walmart.com" - meaning it has yet to prove that its big acquisition play to buy into "digitally native" brands has or will pay off.
Wal-Mart is gathering e-commerce expertise with each deal.
Walmart has acquired a number of e-commerce companies in recent years.
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