In 2016, Walmart purchased a $3.3 Billion e-commerce start-up that was to herald the retail giant’s online retail strategy. Walmart is very keen on expanding their e-commerce ambitions and it poached a Jet Executive to help build new start-ups within the company.
On 13th March, Walmart announced that it had established Store No. 8, which would be an Internal venture meant nurture new online retail business. This was the yet another sign that the retail company is in the process of revamping their e-commerce game plan. Walmart began the process in 2016 with the purchase of Jet. The retail giant has announced another acquisition by making a deal to buy Modcloth, an online store for trendy clothing for women.
Walmart which for a long time has been the world’s most dominant physical retailing store has been left behind in the business of selling products online. Amazon is currently the world largest online store. Jet, the start-up Walmart purchased had an ambition of becoming Amazon’s strongest rival at a time when Amazon was not facing any credible challengers. However, Jet failed in achieving profitability and emerging as strong competition to Amazon.
Many large companies have established Internal ventures. Walmart had already established its Internal research lab (@walmartlabs) which focuses on developing new e-commerce hubs for the retail company. However, Store No.8 is the first incubation /investment arm of its kind for the retailer. It is pegged at a market value of $213billion.
Store No.8 gets its name from an earlier Walmart store that was built on an old bottling company under which Sam Walton played out new retail strategies. The store’s purpose is to foster relationships with the entrepreneurs in the field of artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and new emerging technologies.
“We knew we needed to keep investing in the future of retail,” Seth Beal, one of the principals of Store No. 8, said in a recent interview. “We’re making sure that we make the right short-term decisions but don’t neglect the long term.” Beal was a senior vice president of global marketplace and digital stores operations at Walmart. “When the mother ship is ready, we’re sort of ahead of the eight ball,” Ms. Finnegan said. “Our goal is to have whatever we work on integrated into the mother ship.” Finnegan will be joining Beal at Store no.8. Ms. Finnegan joins Store No.8 from Jet where she served in corporate development. Finnegan also has a background in fund-raising and mergers, which is crucial seeing that Jets was recently acquired by the giant retail business.
Along with incubating new ventures, Ms. Finnegan said, Store No. 8 will be able to draw on Walmart’s resources to support any start-ups that it launches. Store No.8 can acquire stakes in the already exciting online business. However, it intends on assisting in the creation of new start-ups. Finnegan has stated severally that Store No.8 would rely on Walmart’s resources to support any start-up that its students launch.
“We’re giving these portfolio companies the best chance for them that leads success,” she said.
