According to figures presented by Michael Corkery and Karen Weise of the New York Times, Amazon has surpassed Walmart.The projections from financial research company FactSet quoted by the Times support this. Their report state that consumers have spent $610 billion on Amazon between June 2020 and June 2021. During the same period, consumers only spent $566 billion at Walmart.
Analysts have long anticipated that Amazon would overtake Walmart in sales. To cite the New York Times report of JP Morgan, they predicted that Amazon would ultimately surpass Walmart’s US revenues after this year. However, the epidemic seems to have accelerated Amazon’s trajectory by moving retail purchases online.
When Insider reached out to Amazon and Walmart for comment, they did not immediately reply.
Amazon has for a long time understated its position. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in his 2020 speech before Congress that Walmart is twice the size of his digital store. In a recent article, Insider’s Dennis Green noted that the internet giant had downplayed its importance in the retail environment, claiming that it is “just liable for 4% of US consumer spending.”
What Amazon may expect from its status
As a result of exceeding Walmart in terms of revenue, the Seattle-based business may become more susceptible to antitrust enforcement than it has ever been. Washington, DC’s attorney general, Karl Racine, is presently suing Amazon, claiming that the company has a monopoly on the online sale of products and therefore controls the pricing of commodities.
Furthermore, newly appointed Federal Trade Commission Chairman Lina Kahn published a 2017 study in which she argued that existing competition rules are too out of date to cope with the likes of Amazon.
Amazon has been unbeatable regarding its development trajectory for quite some time now, barring any indications about antitrust issues that may arise. Faisal Masud praised Amazon’s supremacy in third-party sales, last-mile logistics capacities that solidified its fast expansion, and its membership structure, the Amazon Prime. He was the CEO of e-commerce start-up Fabric, who formerly worked at Amazon from 2002 to 2011 during the corporation’s “underdog development years.”
“It’s simply that I don’t see any way for Walmart to catch up,” Masud said.
Instead of racing after Amazon with Prime-focused initiatives such as Walmart Plus, Masud believes the retailer should take a page from brick-and-mortar competitor Target and “choose their own champions.”
“They have a fantastic food business, and they have a brilliant pharmacy program,” he said.
“Walmart Plus serves as a diversion. As a result, they are unable to contend with the Amazons since they lack an FC network. Target has done a far better job, as shown by their amazing success with the Shipt purchase.”
Walmart, according to Charlie O’Shea, the Moody’s Vice President in a statement to Insider, “remains one of the top global retailers by any measure.”
The estimate of $75 billion [in online sales] globally for Walmart in 2021, according to O’Shea, “demonstrates the company’s continuing momentum.”
