Discounter revamping cloud strategy to distance itself from Amazon

Target is using an unconventional way to send a message to Amazon.



In a move to take greater control of its infrastructure — and stop financing its rival — the discounter is scaling back its use of Amazon Web Services, reported CNBC.



Target plans to “aggressively” move e-commerce activities, mobile development and operations away from AWS through the end of the year and into 2018 — a plan it alluded to back in October, according to the report.



According to sources in the report, Microsoft Azure is already wooing Target in hopes of grabbing their business. Meanwhile, other companies, including Google and Oracle continue to bolster their cloud-based offerings — good news for other retailers that may be considering a transition away from AWS.



Target’s decision comes after a similar move made by its rival, Walmart. In June, the retail giant warned some of its tech partners not to run applications on Amazon’s cloud platform if they want to continue working with Walmart.



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