Walmart is poised to capture an even larger portion of this year’s online retail sales.
According to eMarketer’s latest retail forecast, Walmart will overtake Apple to become the third largest ecommerce retailer in the US this year. The shift comes after eMarketer increased its share projections for the big-box retailer.
Walmart (which includes Walmart, Sam’s Club and Jet.com) will capture 4.0% of all online retail spending in the US, totaling $20.91 billion. In our July forecast, eMarketer estimated that Walmart would capture a 3.7% ecommerce share this year.
“Walmart’s ecommerce business has been firing on all cylinders lately,” said eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman. “The retail giant continues to make smart acquisitions to extend its ecommerce portfolio and attract younger and more affluent shoppers. But more than anything, Walmart has caught its stride with a fast-growing online grocery business, which is helped in large part by the massive consumer adoption of click-and-collect.”
“Amazon remains the king of ecommerce and is in no danger of losing its crown anytime soon. But online competition from brick-and-mortar retailers is heating up and Amazon has felt more of a need to respond to maintain its leadership,” Lipsman said.
The fiercely fought Amazon HQ2 competition ended up in a split decision, Jeff Bezos awarded the coveted prize to Long Island City, NY and Crystal City, VA 50/50.