Daisy Watts
Nov 13, 2023
Walmart and Amazon are two of the biggest players in the world of online shopping, and they both run e-commerce marketplaces where other businesses can sell their stuff to millions of shoppers. However, they have their own unique ways of doing things and different goals, and they also face their own sets of challenges and opportunities.
Besides its achievements in brick-and-mortar, Walmart's online marketplace has been growing super-fast recently. In 2023, it had more than 100,000 sellers, which is a big jump from the 33,000 it had in 2019.
The retail business giant keeps adding new categories to its online store, like fashion, stuff for your home and garden, and things for your pets. It is also investing in tech and services to make its online store more appealing to both sellers and buyers.
For example, in 2020, they started something called Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), which helps sellers with things like storing stuff, shipping it, handling returns, and helping customers. In the same year, they teamed up with Shopify to let Shopify sellers sell their stuff on Walmart's website.
On the other hand, Amazon's online marketplace is way bigger and more established than Walmart's. This is simply because Amazon started its journey as an online platform, unlike Walmart which was an offline business for many decades. In 2023, it had over 1.9 million sellers actively selling stuff.
Amazon has been a huge deal in online shopping for a long time, and they have a big piece of the pie, with more than 40% of the online shopping market in the US. One of the big reasons is their Prime membership program, which gives over 200 million members worldwide perks like free and fast shipping, streaming videos, music, and more.
They also have a massive network of places where they keep stuff (over 300 in the US alone) to make sure they can deliver things super quickly.
But, both Walmart and Amazon have their own problems and face competition. Walmart has to deal with the fact that Amazon is really popular and has lots of loyal customers as the latter built its image as an online store from the very beginning while the former began its journey as an offline store.
They also have to follow the rules set by the government and deal with issues related to their workers. Walmart has to juggle both their online store and their physical stores because they make a lot of money from those brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon, on the other hand, has competition from other online stores like Shopify, eBay, and Target.
They are also dealing with investigations and lawsuits because some people think they are too big and powerful. Plus, they need to keep a good reputation with both customers and sellers because some folks say they have been doing shady stuff like selling fake or dangerous stuff.
Walmart and Amazon both have big plans for their online stores. Walmart wants to be the place where you can get anything you need online, from groceries to gadgets to healthcare stuff. Amazon wants to be a big part of your life, offering not just shopping but also entertainment, computer services, and smart devices. These two giants are going to keep battling it out in the online shopping world as they try to be more innovative and stand out.
