However, it does make sense for a company like Walmart. I don't know about 3B, but Jet is a drastically cooler brand for them in their ecommerce battle esp. among millenials.
Jet was previously fulfilling many orders from Walmart and now they can build a seamless integration to deliver competitively priced items quickly from the stores.
Every time I see a comment like this, it really makes me wonder who these mythical millenials are. I work in a company with 11 millenials out of 16 employees and NONE of them have even heard about Jet, let alone bought from it. Now that Jet was acquired and will be quietly folded into Walmart, it's more than likely they never will.
They use Amazon almost exclusively for all of their shopping needs.
Not sure where you got the notion that 'Jet is a drastically cooler brand'. It seems false both from anecdata I have and from the design of their website, which looks like a cheap knockoff of Amazon.
There are some huge assumptions built into your comment.
Sure - many millenials haven't heard of it yet, but that's beside the point. Everyone has heard of Walmart but they struggle online. In your anecdote, 30% have brand recall which isn't as bad as you make it seem.
The problem with Jet as it currently stands is that it isn't very compelling for word of mouth. I've used it and had a decent experience but never told anyone about it.
Anyway, Walmart can put more muscle behind it, likely deliver a better service and push a cooler brand than their own. At the same time - they can utilize their store inventory and distribution/shipping and potentially drive consumers to pick up in store same day (and drive more in-store revenue).
You make an assumption about them folding it in. I don't think they will, but if they do it will be a waste.
Also - your note about people you know using Amazon for all shopping needs doesn't mean that it will always be that way. Do you expect everyone to roll over because Amazon is the leader? Should nobody bother competing?
- Amazon has a LOT of fake reviews. - They're pissing off merchants by competing directly with them. - They often ship other merchant's products instead of your own if it's closer to the user.
I'm not that bullish on Jet either, but I wouldn't underestimate Walmart.
I think you misread the parent - he said that out of 16 employees, 11 were millennials and none of those had 'brand recall' as you insist on calling it.
Apart from that, I'd bet that most or all of the 11 millenials would say Walmart is probably one of the least exciting, least cool brands they're know.
How so?
So they've been eating the cost of shipping and overhead with no margins and have zero loyalty because they don't really have a unique value proposition.
They failed with their initial subscription model. They say they can keep costs low with their technology and rewards based shopping but they haven't proven anything.
It gets better with Walmart though - now they have a supplier and distribution hub that has great relationships with countless vendors.
Walmart brings the solution to that to the table. They already have the merchandise, and infrastructure. While the general opinion of Walmart is that they are terrible, Walmart's distribution and transportation infrastructure is King in that world.
Currently Jet.com fulfills orders by just going to the stores and purchasing and shipping.