New York: Walmart is buying fast-growing online retailer Jet.com for $3 billion in cash plus $300 million in stock, scooping up a newcomer that launched a year ago with the intention of challenging online leader Amazon.
The hefty price underscores how Walmart is trying to compete more aggressively and effectively for younger and more affluent customers as it has seen its online business growth slow, even with big investments in distribution centers and expanding services.
As part of the deal, Jet.com co-founder and CEO Marc Lore will oversee both that site and walmart.com, and will report to Walmart Stores Inc. Chief Executive Doug McMillon. Lore brings to the role a rich e-commerce resume as founder of Quidsi, the parent of Diapers.com, which was bought by Amazon for $500 million in 2010.
Analysts say the acquisition still won't enable Walmart to catch up to Amazon in sales, but it will help narrow that gap and should widen the distance between Walmart and other online retailers. The deal also reflects the difficulties for startups like Jet.com of making it on their own in a sphere Amazon dominates with its network of distribution hubs and the powerful asset of its Prime membership program.
The move follows a series of acquisitions by major traditional retailers of online startups, with Hudson's Bay, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue, purchasing flash-sales site Gilt Group and Bed, Bath & Beyond buying One Kings Lane. While not a startup, Walmart itself announced in June that it announced it was forming a partnership with JD.com in China to bolster its presence in that market.
"This acquisition in tandem with its joint venture in China with JD.com, demonstrates that Walmart is attacking online retail with significant zeal," said Moody's lead retail analyst Charlie O'Shea. "As we believe 'catching' Amazon online is an unrealistic goal for any brick-and-mortar retailer, Walmart now has a definite leg up on its competitors in the very important race to be No. 2 online."
As part of the deal, which Walmart expects to close this year upon regulatory approval, Walmart and Jet.com will maintain separate brands — for now. Walmart.com will stay focused on the company's low price strategy and Jet.com will still provide a curated assortment of products. The acquisition will help Walmart grab a higher-income customer who typically is younger than its own shoppers. Jet.com, launched in July 2015, sells 12 million products, from jeans to diapers and has been growing fast. It has more than 400,000 new shoppers added monthly and an average of 25,000 daily processed orders.
Walmart says it will incorporate some of Jet.com's "smart" technology that lowers prices in real time by looking for ways to cut costs. It is built on a pricing algorithm that determines which sellers are the most efficient in value and shipping and adjusts prices based on what items are in the checkout cart, as well as how far the desired products are from the shopper's home. So shoppers are encouraged to add more to build a more efficient cart and buy items labeled "smart cart" for more savings. For Jet.com, which has been pouring money into splashy TV ads and other marketing, the deal should help accelerate its path to profitability.
McMillon said Walmart customers likely will see lower prices and new brands aimed at millennials that have been carried by Jet.com. Walmart customers may also have more control over creating their own basket to save money.
"We have some cool ideas on how the two brands can work together over time," he said. As for perhaps merging the two sites eventually, McMillon said Walmart wants to be thoughtful about how it approaches that. "This is about winning over time," he said.
Lore cited the benefits of Walmart's purchasing scale, sourcing capabilities, distribution footprint and digital assets together with Jet.com's team and technology. Jet.com, which touts its service, delivers to two-thirds of the country overnight in its purple boxes. In some high-density regions such as New York City, Jet often can offer same-day delivery at no additional cost.
Lore told The Associated Press that he can see helping Walmart with speeding up shipping, among other things.
"I'm definitely in this for the long haul," Lore said. He said he was introduced to McMillon this past spring.
In its fiscal year ended in January, Walmart had online sales of $13.7 billion, a fraction of its total revenue of $482.1 billion. And its online figure pales in comparison to Amazon.com's annual net revenue of $107 billion.
O'Shea noted that Apple.com is the only brick-and-mortar retailer that outranks Walmart in online sales in the US. But Walmart reported in May that global e-commerce sales rose 7 per cent in the first quarter, weaker than the 8 percent in the previous quarter and far below the 20 per cent increases seen less than two years ago.
So it trimmed its free-shipping pilot program ShippingPass to two-day delivery from three and cut a dollar off the membership to $49 a year in an attempt to answer Amazon's Prime program. But while Amazon's Prime membership costs $99 a year, it comes with a lot of perks like streaming music and video and household subscriptions.
O'Shea noted Walmart is "paying a lot" for Jet.com, but it was too soon to say if it overpaid. Shares of Walmart slipped 42 cents to close at $73.34 Monday. Its shares are up 3 per cent over the past year.
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