I find this Walmart-Amazon war fascinating; if you’ve read this blog, you may have read an earlier post on how Walmart and Amazon continue to try to one up each other in the fight for becoming the world’s retail giant.
It looks like Walmart is responding to Amazon’s latest purchase of Whole Foods and indicating that they will lower prices in an attempt to “change the face of grocery shopping.”
They are planning to partner with two big name companies, namely Google and Uber, to expand their service offerings.
First, they are testing grocery delivery via Uber in Denver and Orlando currently to see if this could be a new offering. In the past, Walmart has tried various other options, including considering the use of their own employees and, more interestingly, their own customers (this one never saw the light of day of course).
More interestingly, they are also partnering with Google to provide streamlined online shopping. The first step will begin in September when Walmart’s items are available for purchase via Google Express. In the long term, they are hoping to be able to offer online purchasing through Google Assistant or Google Home, similar to Amazon Echo.
The moves are interesting. On one hand, Walmart could be starting a new phase with their delivery – Ubereats turned UberMart or UberRetail perhaps – or they could not be successful at either of these new ventures and be seen worldwide as the ones who continue to chase Amazon and never really catch up.
Walmart is a retail giant, no doubt, but I believe Amazon is still the stronger of the two. However, Walmart definitely has its sights set on Amazon and seem to be working quickly to catch up and possibly pass them by.
So it seems the Walmart-Amazon war continues, and for now Walmart seems to be making headway. We’ll keep an eye on these new developments and wait for the next move in this retail game of chess.
