Walmart Regains Its eCommerce Footing Led by Logistics

While the Marc Lore tenure at Walmart was characterized by frenetic energy and a recognition that Walmart needed to pick up its pace, much of it seemed to be focused on the wrong areas.

Since his departure, #Walmart appears (to me) to have continued that same investment approach, but focused it in critical areas like advertising, store fulfillment, broader fulfillment services, and longer-term experimentation.

WSJ has an article recently about Walmart's fulfillment services -- good progress, but some things are a mixed bag still, or further out. Let's talk about #supplychain only today.

- Walmart's continued investments in automated fulfillment services alongside/attached to stores. (Target has not done exactly the same from what i gather, focusing more upstream of stores, and downstream of stores). 100 are planned in next couple of years.

This is how stores become fulfillment hubs without disrupting the customer experience (aka gig-worker in traditional aisles approach).

- Speaking of, it is also starting a gig-worker service called Spark for surges. Challenge with this, if it's only for surges it becomes hard to staff consistently.

- Some of its in-home delivery investments also seem very long-term for the payoff. I don't think Walmart's curbside approach is superior to Target's at the moment, it seems like its investments would be better placed there in the short-term. Expensive security equipment, extra subscriptions, and trust issues hamper this in the short to medium-term.

- You may be wondering "what about GoLocal"? Well, the drivers for GoLocal are provided by Walmart's Spark program, mentioned earlier. So there is a marketplace approach to demand happening here. Walmart itself will use Spark workers, but then its GoLocal partners will as well.

- Walmart is investing in drones and autonomous vehicles as well, but this seems way far off to have any material impact on the business.

Still, an exciting time to be watching and participating in #supplychain #retail