Walmart CEO of global e-commerce Neil Ashe predicted that his giant retail firm will match Amazon’s online services and offerings within two years.
His optimistic forecast was quoted in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) conducted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Some observers have asked if Ashe’s ambitious plans for Walmart assume that Amazon will stand pat during the next two years doing nothing to counter the announced challenge.
To arrive at a state of parity with Amazon, Walmart has built and will continue to build strategically located warehouses and distribution centers nationwide to fulfill online purchases.
A warehouse and order-fulfilling facility was recently opened in Fort Worth, Texas. The operation will distribute orders to customers in surrounding Southwestern areas. Another such facility is planned for the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, to serve customers in certain eastern regions.
Ashe said more warehouse distribution centers are planned and, by 2016 or before, Walmart will be able to compete with Amazon with respect to both the abundance and diversity of product offerings and speed of delivery.
Amazon, a dynamic and aggressive online colossus, will no doubt also move forward during the next two years as Walmart attempts to catch up with its rival’s online sales and services.
Amazon’s revenue more than doubled to $61 billion since 2009, WSJ reported. Amazon’s current market cap is $180 billion, still lagging behind Walmart’s $241 billion.
In his interview with WSJ, Ashe said, “Wal-Mart was the Internet before the Internet came along. Value, access, transparency and efficiency are what the Internet asks of companies to survive. And the ethos of our company is very aligned with what customers are asking us to do.”