What does the Jet acquisition mean for Walmart?

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Walmart might have its eye on online retailer Jet.com. Since the deal was confirmed by both companies, Slice Intelligence looked into what this merger means for the e-commerce marketplace. Data suggests that Jet could bring new growth, particularly in CPG categories, and new buyers to Walmart's online business, giving it an edge over rival Target.com.

Target and Walmart have been neck-and-neck for the past 12 months. If Walmart were to add Jet's business, Walmart.com could overtake Target.com. The combined revenue generated by both Jet and Walmart.com would exceed Target’s by five percent. When comparing the relative market share of Walmart, Target, and Jet we see that Walmart accounts for 46 percent of the dollars shoppers spent with these merchants. Currently Jet only accounts for six percent of the revenue amongst these merchants; not surprising considering the company launched only last year.

While both companies are strong in electronics and home & kitchen sales, Jet particularly stands out in CPG. Combined grocery and health & beauty sales accounted for over a third of Jet's revenue in the last year. In contrast, these categories only account for five percent of Walmart sales.

A glance at Jet's demographic composition versus Walmart's indicates that they appeal to slightly different shoppers. Walmart's buying population is predominately female, and a bit older than Jet's. Here's a quick look at the gender breakdown between Walmart and Jet buyers.

Jet, a relative newcomer to the space, saw revenue soar at a rate of 168 percent since last August, while sales on Walmart.com remain strong; up by 30 percent in the same period.

For more insights about Jet.com, download in our recent white paper, authored by Slice Intelligence Principal Analyst Ken Cassar.

With a panel of 5 million online shoppers, Slice Intelligence gives the most detailed, and accurate digital commerce data available, and is reported daily.

Slice Intelligence is the only service to measure digital commerce directly from the consumer, across all retailers, at the item level, and over time. Our retailer-independent methodology precisely measures commerce as it happens. By extracting detailed information from hundreds of millions of aggregated and anonymized e-receipts, Slice can map the entire Purchase Graph, connecting each and every consumer to all their purchases.

Slice gets its data from e-receipts – not a browser, app or software installed by the end-user – so its measurement reflects comprehensive shopping behavior across multiple devices, over time which are key in an increasingly omnichannel retail world. Slice Intelligence is the exclusive e-commerce data provider for the NPD’s Checkout Tracking e-commerce service.