Similarly, Alibaba not only operated several e-commerce sites, including Taobao Marketplace and Tmall, a third-party platform for brands, but also facilitated transactions through its Alipay app, keeping customers within the Alibaba ecosystem, which also includes banking and other financial services. A combination of competitive issues, including price competition from dollar stores and other rivals, slowed Walmart’s same-sales growth in the US, and sparked the chain’s determination to gain greater share of life and reinforce the relevance of the Walmart brand and its “Always Low Prices Promise”.

Walmart sought lower pricing from vendors and increased employee wages as part of an effort to improve store experience. With over 4,500 locations just in the US, Walmart leveraged its omnipresence by allocating some space to health care clinics, and experimenting with car insurance and other financial services.

Target also operated health care clinics, which drive shopping trips and increase share of life. It’s an area into which certain retailers enjoy consumer permission to expand. In another initiative to keep its locations and range relevant to changing consumer needs, Target worked to differentiate its grocery department with organic food, craft beer and other products to attract millennial shoppers traditionally drawn to the chain’s reputation for urban style at a fair price. (SH)

Fibre2fashion News Desk – India