Walmart buys social shopping site Luvocracy

The @WalmartLabs unit of the retailer’s Global eCommerce division has done another deal in Silicon Valley, acquiring the social shopping site Luvocracy.



The deal is the 14th in the past three years and is small by Walmart standards, involving a three year-old-startup with 16 employees. As with other deals, it was disclosed via a blog post by @WalmartLabs vp of global products Ben Galbraith. He noted that the acquisition of Luvocracy, one of the first companies to enable the social shopping experience, would give a boost to Walmart’s mission of saving people money so they can live better.



“I’m pleased to announce that we’re acquiring Luvocracy, an online community that helps people discover cool products recommended by people whose taste they trust, such as family members, friends and online influencers,” Galbraith wrote in the July 29 blog post. “Founded three years ago, Luvocracy was one of the first companies to enable the entire social shopping experience - from discovery to commerce — to occur within the four walls of its app.



Galbraith highlighted four key individuals from Luvocracy that would be joining the @WalmartLabs team. They include, CEO and co-founder Nathan Stoll, VP of design Brooke Thompson, creative director Christine Martinea and VP of engineering Ajay Agrwal.



“We’ve been spending a lot of time with Nathan, Christine, Ajay, Brooke, and the rest of the crew - what an amazing bunch,” Galbraith said. “I’m so delighted to have them join us, and now we’ll be working together to create more of these fantastic moments when customers find delightful products at great prices. We’re excited to have this super-talented team bring their knowledge and experience to help us redefine the shopping experience of the future. I can’t wait to see the ideas we’ve been cooking up together come to life in our properties around the world.”



The deal comes about a month after @WalmartLabs acquired mobile fashion app Stylr.