Walmart is the only competitor to Amazon. All other companies are too small, too niche, or not a good alternative. A bigger Walmart means a better alternative to Amazon, which means a better e-commerce market.
Amazon dominates the U.S. e-commerce market with a market share of about 40%. walmart is far behind, with less than 10%. however, for at least the past five years, walmart has been growing faster than amazon because it started smaller, because of its online grocery advantage, and because, after letting amazon grow unrivaled for several decades, it finally refocused on e-commerce in 2016. in 2023, it finally surpassed $100 billion in global e-commerce sales. refocused on e-commerce in 2016, and in 2023, it finally surpassed $100 billion in global e-commerce sales. Much of this occurred in the United States.
eBay remains the third largest e-commerce channel in the United States. However, while overall online spending grew by $1,20% in five years, spending on eBay grew by only $7%. eBay is now focused on enthusiasts and collectors after a decade-long head-to-head competition with Amazon in its early days. Target is going strong, but its $70% e-commerce business comes from same-day store pickup and delivery services. Target is growing, but its 70% e-commerce business comes from a same-day store pickup and delivery service, and in five years its marketplace has grown to fewer than 1,000 sellers.
In 2023, Shopify's annualized GMV exceeded $200 billion. However, its marketplace-like app store generates less than $1 billion in annualized revenue, according to comments on its Q4 earnings call ("In Q4, the Store app generated almost $100 million in GMV in one month"). So instead of being a shopping destination with a single shopping cart, Shopify is direct-to-consumer proof. For several years, Google has been trying to shift its price comparison engine to a platform where shoppers can check out directly, integrating Shopify with other stores, but it gave up in 2023.
Subversives Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop are the most visible, but they only serve specific use cases, price points, and types of purchases. Each company will inevitably try to expand its selection and price points beyond its initial value proposition. However, while Shein's success in apparel has forced Amazon to lower the fees it charges sellers, its attempts to add more categories have been far less disruptive.
While shoppers have choices, there are very few third-party sellers that account for the majority of Amazon's sales - Amazon has a market share of 80% among businesses that sell through the marketplace. eBay is the second largest marketplace, but lack of growth means it is losing market share, and its focus on audiophiles means it is only available for eBay is the second largest market, but lack of growth means it's losing market share, and its focus on enthusiasts means it's only available in certain categories. As a result, Walmart has replaced eBay as the second most important channel and has grown the market to over 100,000 active sellers.
Amazon's seemingly unlimited selection is the selling point of Prime membership. It promises to deliver something no matter what the search query is. In some cases, buying directly from a brand, discovering a product from a social network on TikTok, finding a collector's item on eBay, or finding an incredibly cheap USB cable on Temu is the best. But only Walmart comes close to Amazon.
If Amazon encounters meaningful competitors as it gains market share, they will push it to spend more money on shopping labs and treat sellers better, which could lead to higher overall e-commerce spending than today. walmart is such a competitor. Walmart is one such competitor, finally catching up to Amazon's order of magnitude with $100 billion in online sales. It's still much smaller, but has found a way to realize, market and advertise.
EN 
ZH_TW 
ZH