Posted Mon Aug 8, 2016 at 09:30 AM PDT by Steven Cohen
The retail giant is buying the e-commerce company.
Walmart has announced plans to acquire Jet.com for approximately $3 billion. The deal is poised to help expand Walmart's e-commerce growth and customer reach.
"We're looking for ways to lower prices, broaden our assortment and offer the simplest, easiest shopping experience because that's what our customers want," said Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "We believe the acquisition of Jet accelerates our progress across these priorities. Walmart.com will grow faster, the seamless shopping experience we're pursuing will happen quicker, and we'll enable the Jet brand to be even more successful in a shorter period of time. Our customers will win. It's another jolt of entrepreneurial spirit being injected into Walmart."
As part of the deal, Jet and Walmart will remain separate brands, allowing Walmart.com to continue its extension of the company's retail stores while Jet.com will continue to provide its own unique customer experience. Led by co-founder and CEO Marc Lore, along with fellow co-founders Mike Hanrahan and Nate Faust, Jet.com has positioned itself as one of the fastest growing e-commerce websites in the US.
Here are a few of the company's key features and accomplishments per the press release:
- Demonstrated ability to scale with speed, reaching $1 billion in run-rate Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and offering 12 million SKUs in its first year.
- A growing customer base of urban and millennial customers with more than 400,000 new shoppers added monthly and an average of 25,000 daily processed orders.
- Best-in-class technology that rewards customers in real time with savings on items that are bought and shipped together, thereby reducing the supply-chain and logistics costs often buried in the price of goods.
- A select group of more than 2,400 retailer and brand partners tailored to create an attractive and distinctive assortment for consumers.
The deal has been approved by the Boards of Directors for both companies but is still subject to regulatory approval. Walmart expects the acquisition to close this calendar year.
Source: Walmart
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