Walmart, the US multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores, is offloading two of its digital platforms namely Shoes.com and Bare Necessities as a move to make its digital business lean and mean.
The move comes at a time when the challenges of the digital platforms have taken a multi-dimensional and unique role in a market that is now adhering to social distancing and touchless deliveries, due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic.
Walmart seems to now focus on its main website with this divestment. The lingerie brand Bare Necessities will be acquired by Delta Galil Industries Ltd, an Israeli apparel maker that also owns the 7 for All Mankind denim business. The footwear site will go to private equity firm CriticalPoint Capital. The terms of the deals were not disclosed.
The divestments are in line with Walmart’s sale of indie apparel brand ModCloth in October, and its decision earlier this year to close down the Jet.com e-commerce site. The move is seen to simplify things at Walmart for a leaner and meaner competition with the rival company Amazon.
In an email, Walmart said, “The number of customers we’re serving in these categories on Walmart.com, along with the corresponding sales volume, is very different than before each acquisition.”
Walmart meanwhile will continue to sell items from Bare Necessities and Shoes.com through its third-party marketplace site, which carries products from a wide variety of merchants as Delta Galil separately announced it was acquiring Bare Necessities.
