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Are the actions of Amazon any different from what Walmart has done in the past? Just about all you describe, Walmart has been doing for 20+ years (probably clo

Are the actions of Amazon any different from what Walmart has done in the past? Just about all you describe, Walmart has been doing for 20+ years (probably closer to 30)

Alupis 7y ago
Yes and no. Until recently, Walmart hasn't had a Marketplace - so while Walmart has (and does) exploit their vendors with pricing and what-not, they haven't been able to wield that club against their competition directly like Amazon does. People have also been saying Walmart is quite anti-competitive for years for what that's worth too.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  "Until recently, Walmart hasn't had a Marketplace" No? When exactly did they start selling large numbers of items on their website that aren't in stores?
  - Alupis 7y ago
    "Marketplace" refers to 3rd parties selling on the platform. Until recently, Walmart.com was exclusively products sold by Walmart - now they let 3rd parties list and sell products too (just like Amazon).
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Third parties have been selling at physical Walmart stores beside store brands for decades. The same with every drug chain.
    - jldugger 7y ago
      Are you familiar with a planogram? Walmart the physical location is a platform, with paid placement for premium locations on a shelf. Same goes for virtually all national retailers. Hell, Frito even has their own employees stock the shelves, which is why the chip aisle tends to look immaculate compared to the rest of the store.
    - perl4ever 7y ago
      So if Walmart.com has a million products that are drop-shipped from whoever, those would be/could be still considered "sold by Walmart"? Or are you saying this is equivalent to Amazon, but only started yesterday Something sounds odd, because I interviewed with a no-name company that handles this sort of thing close to a decade ago, and while I don't remember if they did it for Walmart, they provided similar fulfillment services for several large e-commerce websites.
KingHenryVIII 7y ago
If you read the article, it implies that Walmart is also due for scrutiny.

Are the actions of Amazon any different from what Walmart has done in the past? Just about all you describe, Walmart has been doing for 20+ years (probably closer to 30)

Alupis 7y ago

Yes and no. Until recently, Walmart hasn't had a Marketplace - so while Walmart has (and does) exploit their vendors with pricing and what-not, they haven't been able to wield that club against their competition directly like Amazon does. People have also been saying Walmart is quite anti-competitive for years for what that's worth too.

perl4ever 7y ago
"Until recently, Walmart hasn't had a Marketplace" No? When exactly did they start selling large numbers of items on their website that aren't in stores?
- Alupis 7y ago
  "Marketplace" refers to 3rd parties selling on the platform. Until recently, Walmart.com was exclusively products sold by Walmart - now they let 3rd parties list and sell products too (just like Amazon).
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Third parties have been selling at physical Walmart stores beside store brands for decades. The same with every drug chain.
  - jldugger 7y ago
    Are you familiar with a planogram? Walmart the physical location is a platform, with paid placement for premium locations on a shelf. Same goes for virtually all national retailers. Hell, Frito even has their own employees stock the shelves, which is why the chip aisle tends to look immaculate compared to the rest of the store.
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    So if Walmart.com has a million products that are drop-shipped from whoever, those would be/could be still considered "sold by Walmart"? Or are you saying this is equivalent to Amazon, but only started yesterday Something sounds odd, because I interviewed with a no-name company that handles this sort of thing close to a decade ago, and while I don't remember if they did it for Walmart, they provided similar fulfillment services for several large e-commerce websites.

KingHenryVIII 7y ago

If you read the article, it implies that Walmart is also due for scrutiny.