Walmart to Fold Jet.com Staff Into Operations -- WSJ
June 13 2019 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Nassauer
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (June 13, 2019).
Walmart Inc. is absorbing what remains of Jet.com staff into the
rest of its operations, winding down the startup it bought for $3.3
billion three years ago while continuing to run the Jet.com
website.
Walmart said it isn't planning to cut jobs and expects existing
Jet employees to move to new roles within the retail giant. It
declined to say how many employees work at Jet, an online seller of
groceries, clothes and electronics, whose main offices are in
Hoboken, N.J.
Soon after Walmart bought the startup, Jet executives, including
founder Marc Lore took over responsibility for all of Walmart's
U.S. e-commerce business. "We're now merging the rest of our Jet
teams," including marketing, technology and analytics, Mr. Lore
said in a company blog post.
Walmart is eliminating remaining Jet leadership roles. Jet
President Simon Belsham will stay through early August to manage
the transition, Mr. Lore said.
In recent years, Walmart has narrowed Jet's focus to attracting
high-income urban shoppers to differentiate it from Walmart.com,
scaling back sales expectations for the startup which launched
pitching inexpensive everyday goods to a swath of shoppers. Jet's
premium pitch has lured some brands that won't sell directly
through Walmart.com, including Nike.
Last year, Jet relaunched as an e-commerce site focused
primarily on New York and offering local goods, everyday items and
groceries. Jet will focus on serving urban shoppers in areas where
Walmart has few or no stores, including New York, said Mr.
Lore.
The point of the Jet acquisition was to "infuse Walmart with
additional experience and talent in the e-commerce space," said a
Walmart spokesman. For example, Jet executives have retooled
Walmart e-commerce-fulfillment centers to speed online delivery, he
said.
The retailer is working to hire "so many technologists right
now. We are trying to leverage the ones we have," across the
company, he said.
When Walmart bought Jet in 2016, it was a highflying startup
which raised over $500 million from investors. Before the
acquisition, Jet predicted it would burn through hundreds of
millions of dollars, much of that on marketing to build its shopper
base. Mr. Lore won over investors in part because of his success
running Diapers.com parent Quidsi Inc., which was sold to
Amazon.com Inc. for about $550 million in 2010.
At an investor conference soon after Walmart purchased Jet, the
retail giant's chief executive, Doug McMillon, said Walmart.com
would be the larger e-commerce brand for the company, but "we want
to continue to have the trajectory of Jet continue on as it would
have." In the long run, Mr. Lore "will look for synergies between
those two brands," Mr. McMillon said at the time.
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 13, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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