Good morning Marketer, what does Walmart’s earnings indicate about the future of omnichannel?
In the first quarter of its fiscal year 2021, Walmart U.S. reported total revenue of $134.6 billion, up 8.6% year-over-year. But that wasn’t the only news; the retail giant also announced it would be shutting down Jet.com – the marketplace it acquired for $3.3 billion in 2016 – as Walmart moves to embrace an omnichannel strategy and looks to make e-commerce more profitable.
“Due to continued strength of the Walmart.com brand, the company will discontinue Jet.com,” Walmart noted in its earnings report this week. “The acquisition of Jet.com nearly four years ago was critical for accelerating our omni strategy.”
With the training wheels of Jet.com out of the way, Walmart is positioned to integrate an online-to-offline strategy, with stores as a key component of it all. As the Wall Street Journal reported in December, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the retail giant would look to its supercenters as e-commerce hubs rather than focus on building separate e-commerce warehouses and standalone ventures.
Keep scrolling for more news, including a fresh look at which marketing executives are on the move.
Taylor Peterson,
Deputy Editor
