TAKING ON AMAZON
Walmart launches online discounts
The world’s largest retailer’s discount on about 10,000 web-only items poses a challenge to Amazon.com
London — Walmart will offer discounts on more than a million online-only items that customers then pick up at stores, part of an effort by the world’s largest retailer to challenge Amazon.com. Taking another page from the Jet.com business it bought in 2016, Walmart will first cut prices on about 10,000 web-only items such as Britax car seats and Lego toys, according to a statement. The Pickup Discount programme, which starts on April 19, would expand to more than a million so-called "long tail" items by the end of June, the company said. "With Pickup Discount, we are beginning to take the ethos behind Jet’s Smart Cart and marrying it with Walmart’s operational efficiency," Walmart e-commerce business head Marc Lore said, referring to the business model he pioneered at Jet, where customers got discounts for agreeing to package items together, or forgo returns. "Quite simply, it costs less for us to ship to stores. So, our customers should share in those savings," he said. The move is...
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