I was scrolling through Mustafa Puri’s blog and was intrigued by his post regarding Walmart competing in the e-commerce industry. While it is very important for companies to remain agile in order to adapt to the ever-changing preferences of customers, I do not believe Walmart will be able to compete with the online retail giant Amazon. Walmart is the world’s largest retailer of any kind and offers extremely competitive prices for an abundance of goods. However, their in-store success will not directly transfer to the online industry. While Walmart does a lot of things well, Amazon focuses solely on e-commerce, allowing the company to become experts on the subject. In addition, Amazon is an agile innovator while Walmart is built as a traditional retailer and cannot respond to shifts in the industry as well as Amazon can.
Walmart is the largest retailer of any kind in the world
In the Porter’s five forces diagram mentioned in class, the concept of barriers to entry is highlighted. While there are no regulations stating Walmart cannot enter the online industry, it is tough for them as Amazon is a well-established brand which dominates online retail. While Walmart’s loyal customer base will generate a significant amount of revenue through online sales, the company will be unable to catch up to Amazon in the online race.
