Amazon Vs. Walmart- Who Takes the Trophy Home?

The retail industry has been evolving, and so are the e-commerce platforms. To keep up, e-commerce marketplaces are bringing changes, trying to get better with each passing day. There have been quite a few areas where Walmart and Amazon compete, but nobody is sure as to who comes at the top. It’s quite an interesting topic to pay attention to, especially when all the retail behemoths are ganged up against each other after the post-Covid era to maintain their positions.

Amazon and Walmart are usually fighting for the same target audience and consumers. They start every trend, and other platforms follow or learn from them. Whatever they do, it’s bound to be a success. Both of the platforms have also expanded their business and opened up in new areas and countries.

Here are a few areas where Amazon and Walmart compete with one another:

1.  Finances

The total equity of Walmart in 2020 was $74.66 billion. The platform’s revenue also increased by 6.7% and reached $559 billion for the 2020 fiscal year. During the first quarter of 2021, Walmart had revenue of $138.31 billion. Currently, around 2.3 million employees are working at Walmart.

When it comes to Amazon, the number keeps increasing at a rapid rate. In 2020, the platform’s equity was 93.4 billion. As for the first quarter of 2021, Amazon earned net sales of about $108.5 billion. The revenue of Amazon for the year was $386 billion. Amazon has around 1.3 million employees, and in 2020, Amazon hired approximately 500,000 new employees from around the world.

Who gets the trophy? Well, in this case: Walmart. However, Amazon is catching up pretty fast and soon will be above Walmart.

2.  Focus on the customers

Focusing on Finances is crucial, but it is meaningless without having a customer-centric approach, especially when the e-commerce industry is quite competitive to get maximum customers on board. According to a survey conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Amazon ranks among the top five online retailers. However, Walmart is far behind with a score of 73, which is lower than the average of 78 for internet retailers.

Amazon is recognized as the most customer-focused platform. All the product recommendations made by Amazon, and personalization features are unrivaled, with 35% of the sales coming solely from recommendations. To further enhance customer experience, Amazon keeps bringing interesting features and makes grocery and product shopping easier for customers.

Walmart recognizes the importance of customer experience, and all of its recent adjustments have been made while keeping customers a priority. The latest layout of Walmart is to offer customers exactly what they need and get those products to them as soon as possible. The company’s increasing focus on making Walmart’s site mobile-friendly is also in response to client demands.

Who wins in this area? Amazon. Walmart is trying to make progress in this area, but Amazon’s customer-centric approach remains unrivaled. The company cares a lot about its customers and even emphasizes sellers to implement the best repricing strategies so that they can offer the best prices to customers. 

3.  Technology

Walmart and Amazon are known for being on the cutting edge of technology. Amazon has been working on innovative ways to make sure its customers find the platform convenient. The platform introduced fresh stores for grocery items, FAA-approved deliveries using drones, and biometric payments. Also, did you know that Amazon even opened up a Professional Beauty Salon in 2019? All of this was done during the pandemic. Amazon is continuing to develop and considering getting into other industries, such as pharmaceuticals as well as innovative home gadgets. Amazon also has ‘Amazon Robotics’ based in the Boston area, to build mobile robots and similar robotics stuff to enhance customer experience. As for the sellers, the ‘Amazon Buy Box’ has always been a huge hit to get maximum sales on the platform. It is a great way of keeping Amazon sellers interested in selling, and also leads buyers to purchase their goods from the top seller. 

Walmart is always coming up with new ways to improve order fulfillment and the consumer experience. Walmart also launched Alphabot in the year 2020, which is a platform that will be able to choose, pack, and transport online grocery items. This system is a lot faster and more efficient than humans.

Walmart also revamped approximately 1,000 stores in 2021 in order to provide customers with a more simplified and speedier shopping experience. The updated version of the site has a lot more options for customers to enjoy.

Who wins? Well, Amazon is the winner in this case. With its revolutionary ways of serving customers, the company has transformed the retail industry and continues to bring more changes by using robotics.

4.  Presence in the retail sector

In terms of having the most physical retail presence, Walmart has always been the leader. Walmart has around 4700 physical branches in the United States, a number that has remained stable in recent years, and 90 percent of Americans choose to get their houses in the areas where Walmart is nearby.

With its physical store presence, Amazon is gaining progress. Amazon has 100 Amazon-branded stores in addition to its 500-plus physical sites for Whole Foods.

We have a clear winner in this case: Walmart. However, Amazon is trying its level best to increase its physical retail presence. 

In conclusion,

While Walmart has been in the retail business longer than Amazon, there is no doubt that Amazon is trying to take the lead and putting its 100% into doing so. The platform is growing faster than ever, and in upcoming years, we can definitely see Amazon making its way to the #1 e-commerce platform in the world.