Looks like Walmart is leveraging the new talent in their leadership fold, Marc Lore formerly of Jet.com and diapers.com, to launch a skunk works in Silicon Valley dubbed Store #8 after the store Company founder Sam Walton used to try out new retail strategies.
Feels like less of a moonshot factory then say how Bell Labs, Xerox's PARC, Amazon's Lab126 or Google's X were set-up. But then one can ask how many of those great inventions did AT&T or Xerox actually leverage (the stuff Apple ended up launching don't count!) versus languishing on shelves. And exactly how many of X's moonshots have been commercialized? Maybe, if Store #8 is less rabbit and more turtle in the race to capture Consumers wallets. And in that scenario, Walmart can point to a whole list of competitors it has slowly but surely ground into dust.
http://www.chainstoreage.com/article/walmart-launches-store-no---its-not-really-store?tp=i-H55-Q5S-341-4rp50-1u-14Qs-1c-iuA-4rjD4-27Eehq&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_source=Experian&utm_medium=email&cid=11781&mid=71933082
Back in the day Amazon used to sell books but it also had a strategic approach to broaden it's portfolio. That was to establish a seemingly non-hostile relationship with brick & mortar retailers like Toys 'R Us (see bankruptcy), Borders Books..etc. The goal? To get in front of the customer interaction. Amazon sold itself as an expert in the digital space and allowed for cost efficiencies (i.e: not having to build out a web-site or deal with the head-ache of how to fulfill product or the logistics on from where) from the brick and mortar company to focus on what it did best (selling in a physical store) while letting Amazon manage it's digital footprint which was a low volume mix relative to the traffic that was walking into the brick & mortar stores on a daily basis. But, as we all know now, by insinuating itself in the path to purchase and putting its brand in-between the customer and the brick & mortar brand Amazon was able to create a wedge that has grown
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