It’s a fight Walmart simply can’t afford to lose; groceries made up 56 percent of its U.S. sales in its latest fiscal year. Along with the revenue the grocery department generates, it is key to driving foot traffic to Walmart stores and building customer loyalty.
As Gadfly’s Shira Ovide has pointed out, we’ve likely hit a tipping point in which this category of shopping — long insulated from the threat of e-commerce — is about to become much more digital.
Investors recently have gotten skittish about Walmart’s wider e-commerce business, after its once-sizzling sales growth in that channel cooled significantly in the fourth quarter. But they should take at least some comfort in recent survey data suggesting Walmart is getting some things right in online grocery.
It’s true that, in a study by Coresight Research, more shoppers reported buying groceries online at Amazon in the past 12 months than reported buying them online at Walmart.
