The brick-and-mortar store that wanted to become an ecommerce startup... Sounds like a lovely children's book. It's also the story of Walmart in the face of Amazon's growing domination. The historic retailer wanted to prove to itself and investors that it could fend off competition from ecommerce companies by beefing up its own online muscles.
If you haven't removed the tag, can you return it?... Walmart acquired a few key ecommerce startups the past few years (because that's easier than innovating itself) — but in the past couple weeks, it's trying to reverse those moves. Almost all of them.
The reckoning for unprofitable companies just extended beyond IPOs... Ruthlessly efficient, Arkansas-based Walmart has a short patience. The old guard is annoyed that Walmart's ecommerce moves get all the media attention — those investments lose a reported $1B per year, while the old school stores quietly crank out profits. And profits are Walmart's north star.