Wal Walmarts Electronic Commerce Platform - 1223 Words

Wal-Mart seeks to Outperform Amazon’s Electronic Commerce Platform It is no secret that when the holidays are near, big retail companies work extra hard to stock enough products to meet consumer demand. Immediately, two huge retailers come to mind: Wal-Mart and Amazon. The two companies dominate their markets by landslides. Wal-Mart is Forbes 500 number one company, and it has been for the past three years (Forbes, 2015). However, Wal-Mart is feeling some opposition from the electronic commerce champ, Amazon. Amazon, who ranks 29 in the Forbes 500 list of 2015, is the biggest challenger Wal-Mart has faced (Forbes, 2015). With its increase in merchandise categories, to introducing one-hour deliveries, Amazon is a force to be†¦show more content†¦Wal-Mart CFO Charles Holley said, in an interview made by Teach (2015), that Wal-Mart spends $12 billion to $13 billion a year on e-commerce. He also mentioned that Wal-Mart â€Å"will increase spending on e-commerce in itiatives by 30%† for the duration of that year (Teach, 2015). This is not a bad investment because it is focusing on the area Wal-Mart is not dominating. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart is wasting time and money investing in small stores to continue their expansion and desire to get closer to its customers. This approach is Wal-Mart’s biggest issue because it deviates the efforts of acquiring a reliable e-commerce platform capable of competing with Amazon. Whether Wal-Mart is doing the right thing or not is not in question; they are in the top for a reason. However, if Wal-Mart wants to stay on top, it has to manage its investments wisely. One of Amazon’s advantages over Wal-Mart is that it does not have to supply over 4,500 stores, including 600 Sam’s. Wal-Mart’s distribution centers are made for supplying its array of sores, which is an issue for Wal-Mart because Amazon’s supply chain is tailored to its e-commerce platform. According to Bonney (2012), Amazon has â€Å"69 online distribution centers in the U.S. and abroad.† This platform allows it to sell its products from the comforts of its customer’s home, office, or any