Walmart ups Amazon rivalry with Jet.com acquisition

USA: To take on its biggest e-comm rival- Amazon, Walmart is  acquiring a hardly one-year old fast-growing e-comm co. Jet.com for approximately $3 billion in cash.

Walmart and Jet will maintain distinct brands, said Walmart. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year.

The acquisition will complement its brick-and-mortar stores and position the company for even faster e-commerce growth in the future.

“We’re looking for ways to lower prices, broaden our assortment and offer the simplest, easiest shopping experience because that’s what our customers want,” said Doug McMillon, president and CEO, WalMart Stores. “We believe the acquisition of Jet accelerates our progress across these priorities. Our customers will win. It’s another jolt of entrepreneurial spirit being injected into Walmart.”

Jet is among the fastest growing and most innovative e-commerce companies in the U.S.

Jet has demonstrated ability to scale with speed, reaching $1 billion in run-rate Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and offering 12 million SKUs in its first year.

A growing customer base of urban and millennial customers with more than 400,000 new shoppers added monthly and an average of 25,000 daily processed orders.

Best-in-class technology that rewards customers in real time with savings on items that are bought and shipped together, thereby reducing the supply-chain and logistics costs often buried in the price of goods.

A select group of more than 2,400 retailer and brand partners tailored to create an attractive and distinctive assortment for consumers.

“We started Jet with the vision of creating a new shopping experience,” Lore said. “The combination of Walmart’s retail expertise, purchasing scale, sourcing capabilities, distribution footprint, and digital assets – together with the team, technology and business we have built here at Jet – will allow us to deliver more value to customers.”

Walmart and Jet will leverage innovative technology solutions from both companies to develop new offerings to help customers save time and money.