Here’s Why Walmart Is Looking To Integrate Its E-Commerce And Physical Stores Management

Recently, WalMart (NYSE:WMT) internally announced an executive shuffle which gave additional responsibilities to its key e-commerce executives to also oversee its physical stores. Jeremy King, previously the Chief Technology Officer of Walmart’s e-commerce operations in the U.S., will now oversee technology teams for Walmart’s physical stores in addition to its online stores.  Tom Rogers, previously the Chief Marketing Officer for Walmart U.S. stores, will now also head up marketing for Walmart.com and Jet. Com – the online retailer that Walmart acquired last year. Walmart also announced that its Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer of its e-commerce division are exiting from the company. This shuffle indicates that Walmart is increasing focus on technology and recognizing that focus on technology is essential for its future success. These changes come after Marc Lore, founder of Jet.com, took charge of Walmart’s e-commerce division. When Walmart acquired Jet.com last year, it was expected that the company would leverage Lore’s e-commerce expertise to strengthen its online presence. The company has been struggling to grow its e-commerce business and the acquisition of Jet.com was a big move towards boosting this segment. As Marc Lore takes the reins, reshuffling executives and aligning them better is likely to have been a key point on his agenda. Combining online and physical operations as one retail organization is the right strategy for Walmart which, will ensure that it provides a seamless shopping experience for customers.

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The retail landscape is evolving and the line between offline and online channels is likely to blur in future.  As Amazon opens physical convenience stores and experiments with a no-check out “Amazon Go” concept effective use of technology is likely to be the key driver of revenues for stores such as Walmart. Integration of management of physical stores and its e commerce division will ensure that there is no duplication of efforts within Walmart as both these divisions solve the same technology challenges. The future of retail is more likely to be an integrated platform of online and offline options with technology providing conveniences to customers. While Amazon Go appears to be a revolutionary way of convenience shopping, Walmart is working on its own innovations such as self-driving shopping carts to ease the pain of walking the large aisles of a super market. The company is also looking at payment wallets to make the check-out process simpler. In future, departmental stores are likely to benefit from technology initiatives which would make physical shopping easier.

Walmart’s recent executive changes are also an indication that Jet.com’s founder Marc Lore is taking charge of the company’s e commerce segment. The company’s efforts to integrate its physical and online channels are timed right and should help the company to compete better with players such as Amazon.

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