Walmart mounts big offense for Cyber Monday

Walmart has fired the first shot in the Cyber Monday wars.



The discounter said it will launch its “Cyber Week” sales several days early this year, with the first round to be offered on Friday, Nov. 25, at 12:01 a.m. (EST).



In announcing the deals, Walmart noted it has nearly tripled its online assortment to more than 23 million products from 8 million last year, with the growth partially driven by the increase in the chain’s third-party sellers.



To help customers find their way through all the new products, Walmart made improvements to its "recommendation engine," which so far has led to a 20% increase in customer engagement with items the website recommends, Business Insider reported. It has also built a new software called Electrode that helps its web pages load 33% faster, according to Walmart.