Walmart.com Is Blowing Away Competition

Walmart.com (WMT) has almost double the online share of it nearest competitor in the brick and mortar retail space. (Source www.hitwise.com)

Through the week ending 11/17 (% equals share):

1. www.walmart.com (WMT) =7.2%
2. www.target.com (TGT) =4.86%
3. www.bestbuy.com (BBY) =2.91%
4. www.jcpenney.com (JCP) =2.48%
5. www.circuitcity.com (CC) =2.34%
6. www.toysrus.com (private) =2.32%
7. www.sears.com (SHLD)= 2.16%
8. www.kohls.com (KSS) =1.39%
9. www.lowes.com (LOW) =1.29%
10. www.homedepot.com (HD)= 1.29%

I have chronicled Wal-Mart's online success before and these results only add to the proof. Wal-Mart is clearly the leader here and their "site to store" program has been a huge hit. I have used it myself and it is very easy to use and when you consider the shipping charges you save, it really adds up very quickly.

More bad news for Home Depot and Lowes as they tied for last on the list. To make matters worse, Sears is well ahead of them and with more visits to Sears.com, you can bet additional tool and appliance sales are going there rather than to either HD or Lowes.

Comments

[SDBryan]

While this is interesting you've got to consider things like Wal-Mart being an all-in-one retailer that sells everything vs. Best Buy that sells electronics or Home Depot that sells construction/home improvement. How relevant these percentages are depends on what people are looking for when they hit each store.

As a consumer, if I'm looking for some clothes, a video game, and some cereal and I want it all at once, I'm going to look at Wal-Mart.

But if I want a large selection of flat screen TVs, even though Wally World sells them, Best Buy and Circuit City are still going to be my first stops.

I'm assuming the percentages above are unique visits to a retailers website without consideration for what the consumer is after.

[T Muller]

In my mind, I don't see what the big deal is about site to store. Hell, I still have to drive out of the city to shopping center surbubia with fighting traffic and crowds on the way, so walking through the store to retrieve items instead of at a pick up counter is trivial. I'm there right? Save shipping charges? Are those the products online not at the store? Those stores are big enough to warrant their own zip-code, so most all products I would think are at the store already, and if not, there's a truck coming in every so many hours anyway. So, I don't think the "Free Shipping" is a misnomer. Every retailer that had to order a product from another store or DC never charged me shipping. Now Todd, you convince them to deliver my order to my door downtown for free I'll be all over it.

WalMarts are never close by unless you reside in a town and then WalMart is pretty much the town. When I lived in Oxford, MS I was up in that WalMart 24/7. But now, the drive and time is not worth savings. The consumer staples - household goods and hygiene products are a bit cheaper than say Target, but it really adds up due to the purchase frequency. this sometimes its not clear that I just got raped at Target. When It is, I remember to go to Costco.

Site to Store is pretty cool, and it's beneficial for WMT on products that have unusual demand patterns thus not having to guess which store it should/shouldn't be. In my opinion, the additional enhancement enhancement to its already honed logistics system is more significant than just customer acceptance. WMT cab essentially pull customers into the supply chain for the products likely to be the red-headed stepchild in the inventory,

The costs arising from just a little amount of inventory glut/stock out quickly eat up the savings created by managing the other 99% perfectly. That is WalMart's core advantage, and they can expand product offerings without adding much risk to the store shelf assortment. Customers can alert WMT to the products they want at a central location, and customer data can more cheaply be complied, instead of --customers telling workers - telling managers -telling their bosses -who sit down wit other store managers -and regionals to discuss what products are moving and what customers have been asking about.

A lot of leg work, with so many stores, customers, and products better demand estimations help WMT keep cost low and through the site WMT should be able to keep store inventory optimal.

[511953]

WMT should go back to the sound business practices of Sam Walton. What has happened to the profitability of owning WMT stock.I get a yearly return of 4 or $500 off a $100,000 investment. Not good. All WMT is interested in is raising their price on any and all fast moving sellers. 2 cents here, 3 cents here, and $1 there and the stock just sits still. Stay out of other countries markets and manufacturing. Lets start being Americans first, last, and always.