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ROCKVILLE, Md. — Among major retailers, Walmart is far and away the retail leader by number of shoppers. In 2018, 64% of U.S. adults (about 162 million) have shopped at Walmart in the past three months, according to market research firm Packaged Facts in the new report Walmart as Omnichannel Competitor, which focuses on omnichannel (online, in-store, and aggregated) consumer purchasing trends.
Equally impressive, Walmart maintains its wide usage lead even when accounting for online purchases. Packaged Facts estimates that more than half of U.S. adult purchased in-store or online from Walmart in the past three months. Walmart’s usage far outpaced supercenter competitor Target and bested the growing omnichannel omnipresence of Amazon.
Indeed, Walmart is better positioned than ever to grow along with e-commerce instead of fighting against it. Amazon maintains a wide online purchasing lead over the competition, but Walmart—for the moment—is shoulders above the e-tail giant when all aspects of retailing are considered. But will it last?
“The lingering question has now become, ‘how much longer can Walmart continue to stay ahead of Amazon?’ A change is coming sooner than most might anticipate,” said David Sprinkle, research director for Packaged Facts.
During 2014 to 2018, Walmart’s aggressive foray into e-commerce and omnichannel retail began to bear fruit. But while Walmart remains the largest retailer in the U.S., its reign may end in 2022, at which time Packaged Facts forecasts that Amazon will surpass it, based on the assumption that Amazon sales will continue to grow at a much faster rate.
