Amazon is maintaining its retail dominance, capturing 8.8% in gross retail spending compared to Walmart’s 8.2% in the second quarter of 2022, PYMNTS reported in a new study.
Get the study: Amazon Versus Walmart Q1 2022
Amazon also accounted for 3.4% of all consumer spending, topping Walmart’s 2.8%. Amazon first took the lead in consumer spending in the third quarter of 2020 as Walmart’s share in nearly all retail categories dropped.
See also: Amazon Takes 25% of Hard Goods Share as Walmart Eats 18% of Food and Beverage
Walmart was the retail superstar as it expanded from its opening days in 1962 Arkansas to a global force in 1991. By 2002, Walmart was one of the biggest companies in the U.S., according to its website.
When Amazon came along in 1994 as an online bookseller, the internet was in its infancy, and it’s unlikely that Sam Walton saw Jeff Bezos as much of a threat. Fast forward to 2013, and Amazon was recognized as the largest online retailer in the world.
Read also: The Grocery Wild Card
In the last quarter of 2021, Amazon accounted for about 51% of all eCommerce sales in the U.S. and 53% in the first quarter of this year, according to the study. By comparison, Walmart got 5.6% of online sales.
“While Walmart has transformed its business strategy in recent years to include bold innovations — like the drone delivery that Amazon pioneered and curbside pickup — Amazon continues to lead the 60-year-old retail mainstay,” the study stated.
See also: Amazon, Walmart Lead Retail Innovation as Spiraling Packaging Costs Can’t Be Ignored
Amazon and Walmart are joining other retailers in eyeing packaging costs to reduce some rising expenses as inflation continues to stay the upward course. Ongoing sustainability efforts also drive the move.