Walmart forecast to usurp Apple as No. 3 online retailer in U.S., Amazon widens overwhelmi...

Posted:
in General Discussion edited November 2018
Big-box retailer Walmart is predicted to overtake Apple as America's third-largest online retailer by the end of 2018, a result of a wider slowdown in smartphone and consumer electronic sales, according to a report Friday.

Apple Online Store
Apple's online storefront was recently updated for the 2018 holiday shopping season.


According to new statistics from eMarketer, spotted by TechCrunch, Walmart will capture $20.91 billion online retail spending this year, a figure that equates to 4 percent of the market. The number is up from 3.7 percent in a previous forecast from the same research firm.

The performance is expected to unseat Apple from its current spot as the No. 3 online retailer in the U.S. For 2018, eMarketer's latest estimates suggest the iPhone maker will bump its ecommerce share 0.1 percent to end the year at 3.9 percent.

Apple is expected to show a net positive of 18 percent, less than last year's growth, due to what eMarketer describes as a domestic slowdown in electronic device sales. By contrast, Walmart's online sales -- including profits from Sam's Club and Jet.com -- will grow 39.4 percent, a rate bested only by online home goods store Wayfair's 40.1 percent.

"Walmart's ecommerce business has been firing on all cylinders lately," said eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman. "The retail giant continues to make smart acquisitions to extend its ecommerce portfolio and attract younger and more affluent shoppers. But more than anything, Walmart has caught its stride with a fast-growing online grocery business, which is helped in large part by the massive consumer adoption of click-and-collect."

Ahead of both Walmart and Apple is eBay, which will see its share of the online market decline from 7.6 percent in 2017 to 7.2 percent this year.

Amazon remains king of the online marketplace with a massive 48 percent share of the market in 2018, according to eMarketer's November forecast. The ecommerce titan is due to rake in more than $252 billion in the U.S., up more than 29 percent year-over-year.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    I’m guessing this is a metric Apple could care less about.  Any comparison of Apple’s online sales to these huge low margin distributors of other peoples’ stuff is in no way a measure of Apple’s success or failure.  
    Rayz2016SpamSandwichMuntzrandominternetpersonmagman1979lostkiwiStrangeDaysmdriftmeyerwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 2 of 17
    Walmart is all in using Windows as their internal systems.  It’s only a matter of time until their systems are hacked and they slide down the Target slippery slope into fourth place...
    magman1979watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 17
    tbornot said:
    Walmart is all in using Windows as their internal systems.  It’s only a matter of time until their systems are hacked and they slide down the Target slippery slope into fourth place...
    well... TGT stock is up 98% from Oct 2008 (they were hacked 11/08). WMT stock is up only 75%.   Such slippery slopes I wish my stock portfolio had.

    and 'it's only a matter of time....' is a a wonderful basis for 'winning' an argument... 

     'yeah, the Dutch East India Company is the largest corporation in the world, but it 'was only a matter of time' [150 years] before cheap brazilian sugar and greedy investors wanting huge dividends knocked it out of the global #1 corpo-nation status.'

    'yeah, gorillas ruled the Serengeti 200,000 years ago, but was only a matter of time [190,000 years] before homo sapiens used their advanced communication and problem-solving skills to evolve beyond tribal units and into socio economic alliances, and eventually take over the world....'

    radarthekatrandominternetpersonStrangeDaysCarnagejony0
  • Reply 4 of 17
    I’m guessing this is a metric Apple could care less about.  Any comparison of Apple’s online sales to these huge low margin distributors of other peoples’ stuff is in no way a measure of Apple’s success or failure.  
    Agreed.  and for me, Apple's online experience, while pleasant, means little when buying 'personal hardware'.   Online sales are 'the easy ones' for Apple.

    When it comes to selling,  Apple's physical store experience is what they are most focussed on, as the immersion into the Apple culture begins with the eyes and fingers....  you have to 'feel' apple product to truly be sold.   And because of that, they tend to focus on the '$/sqft' comparison, and even that, I think, is more for the big investment houses to justify maintaining their long positions 
    radarthekatmdriftmeyerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 17
    Targets stock is up, but they have been forever knocked out of the running for biggest retailer.  They were doing fine, but the Others now have such a lead that Target is an also-ran.
  • Reply 6 of 17
    It's incredible that Apple.com is the number 3 online US retailer.  All the others at the top of this list are actual retailers who make their money selling other people's stuff.  That means that 3.9% of the money spent buying physical stuff online was used to buy Apple gear direct from Apple (to say nothing of Apple gear bought online from Amazon and elsewhere).  Sure Apple sells a trivial amount of non-Apple stuff, but no one is thinking "hmm, I need a new printer or speakers, let's go to Apple.com and see what's available."

    To be clear, this online retailer list doesn't count purchases from the App Store and the music store, right?
    lostkiwiradarthekatmdriftmeyerbadmonkwatto_cobraCarnage
  • Reply 7 of 17
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    I’m guessing this is a metric Apple could care less about.  Any comparison of Apple’s online sales to these huge low margin distributors of other peoples’ stuff is in no way a measure of Apple’s success or failure.  
    Apple might care if the reason it's going up is that everyone is buying $30 Walmart phones!
  • Reply 8 of 17
    Quite surprised Apple with a limited number of products is even in the top 10, compared with companies that sell thousands of products. Really, it just shows how slow other retailers have been to create successful online marketplaces.
    JFC_PAwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 17
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,913member
    Dumb comparison. Walmart sells bananas to furniture to cloths to thousands of items and Apple sells high end electronics. Moreover, Walmart also sells Apple's items.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 17
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member
    ascii said:
    I’m guessing this is a metric Apple could care less about.  Any comparison of Apple’s online sales to these huge low margin distributors of other peoples’ stuff is in no way a measure of Apple’s success or failure.  
    Apple might care if the reason it's going up is that everyone is buying $30 Walmart phones!
    Which isn't happening so this is a pointless post. 
    StrangeDaysradarthekatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 17
    claire1claire1 Posts: 510unconfirmed, member
    Wal-Mart sells over 150,000 items.

    Apple sells a few.

    Let that sink in....

    Apple shouldn't be in the top 50. Actually Apple.com is also a top website.
    larryjwStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 17
    Amazon is running out of advantages in online retail. I think a lot of retailers (both large and small) have caught up with them in terms of the experience. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 17
    ascii said:
    I’m guessing this is a metric Apple could care less about.  Any comparison of Apple’s online sales to these huge low margin distributors of other peoples’ stuff is in no way a measure of Apple’s success or failure.  
    Apple might care if the reason it's going up is that everyone is buying $30 Walmart phones!
    Try harder. 
    radarthekatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 17

    Amazon is running out of advantages in online retail. I think a lot of retailers (both large and small) have caught up with them in terms of the experience. 
    Honestly it’s the Amazon shopping experience that has always sucked with a busy and cramped web design. It’s gotten better, but the primary benefit of Amazon is the vast vendor selection, reviews, and prime shipping. And prime has been getting worse — costs more, and more products are being barred from using it.
    edited November 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 17
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    ascii said:
    I’m guessing this is a metric Apple could care less about.  Any comparison of Apple’s online sales to these huge low margin distributors of other peoples’ stuff is in no way a measure of Apple’s success or failure.  
    Apple might care if the reason it's going up is that everyone is buying $30 Walmart phones!
    That’s true.  Except that’s not the case.  So, no reason to care.  
    edited November 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 17
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    Let’s run those numbers again, this time using the metric that matters; profit.  And let’s not concern ourselves with online versus offline sales, as each business has taken the road they perceived as most advantageous to them.  Why penalize a business that decided brick and mortar is a better way to reach their customers?  And let’s toss in every business, because some businesses use the direct sales force method to sell to other businesses and to governments. Why should they be left out just because online selling isn’t ideal for them.  And why limit to US businesses?  Why show prejudices in selecting the field.  Let every enterprise worldwide participate.  Now where does Apple rank?  Hmm, maybe two or three, behind only a couple very large state oil giants out of the middle east.  And far ahead of the Walmart’s and Amazon’s of the world.  Hey, but that’s just me; I tend to focus on the metric that businesses are actually in business to produce: profits.
    edited November 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 17
    tbornot said:
    Walmart is all in using Windows as their internal systems.  It’s only a matter of time until their systems are hacked and they slide down the Target slippery slope into fourth place...
    Any company is only as safe as their cyber security software, hardware, and attack surface.  Running windows internally has absolutely nothing todo with firewall choice, endpoint protection and zero trust permissions.   Apple’s safe, but I’m legally bound from saying more.
    watto_cobra
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