Holiday competitiveness: Walmart vs. Amazon

Did Walmart's $3.3 billion acquisition of e-tail startup Jet — the largest buyout in American e-commerce history — help it this holiday season?



A new report from Ugam finds Walmart's first holiday season following its acquisition of Jet.com last summer saw fewer out-of-stocks, but that the chain still has room for improvement on pricing and assortment.



Ugam sought to determine whether the acquisition may have helped Walmart match up better against Amazon on pricing, assortment and out-of-stock rates. Key highlights from the study include:



• Walmart's out-of-stocks were significantly lower on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2016 compared to the same days in 2015.



• As in 2015, this year Amazon carried more trending toys and electronics than Walmart and Jet combined.



• Amazon offered the lowest (or tied for the lowest) prices on more toys and electronics than Walmart and Jet.



• Average toy prices on Walmart were higher than Amazon throughout the analysis period.



For electronics, Walmart's average price trend mirrored that of Amazon. Both retailers had their lowest average prices on Thanksgiving Day.



"Amazon is still ahead of its competitors when it comes to data-driven merchandising," said Sunil Mirani, Ugam CEO. "Walmart's assortment and pricing were competitive this season, and it reduced out-of-stocks, but it still has work to do. Jet's proficiency with data analytics will likely help, and may spur other competitors to try to follow suit and start leveraging data analytics to spot trending products and make smarter pricing and assortment decisions."



The Amazon vs. Walmart and Jet analysis is part of Ugam's third annual Holiday Season report, which features a series of reports and analysis, highlighting insights that matter to retailers and manufacturers during this critical period.