In today’s top retail news, Walmart’s lead over Amazon in the auto parts category is all but gone after the box store giant lost 6 percentage points of share in the past year, while PYMNTS research shows how the acceleration of eCommerce has fundamentally changed how consumers plan their shopping trips. Also, JD.com has named a new president as its founder takes a step back from day-to-day operations, and consumer electronics companies look for ways to improve the smart home setup.
Walmart’s Auto Parts Dominance Over Amazon All But Ended
In just 12 months, Walmart has seen a 7 percentage point market share lead in auto parts evaporate versus rival Amazon, which for the second consecutive quarter is within 1 percentage point of the long-time segment leader. Amazon held onto over 13% of consumers’ auto parts purchases, about the same share it had in the second quarter of 2020. Walmart, on the other hand, sold nearly 15% of consumers’ auto parts last quarter.
5,000 ‘Need It Now’ Consumers Tell PYMNTS What They Expect, Value Most From Retailers
New research conducted in collaboration with Carat from Fiserv found that ever-so-slightly more consumers now shop on Amazon than at nationally known brick-and-mortar retailers like Walmart, Target or Costco. A total of 91% shop on Amazon, while 90% shop at the stores of all other nationally known retail chains. This is not to say that shoppers have no use for the brick-and-mortar store. Rather, everything consumers need now, they buy from brick-and-mortar stores close to their homes or via same-day delivery aggregators. Everything else, they buy for later-day delivery.
JD.com Names New President as Founder Takes Step Back
Chinese eCommerce giant JD.com has created the position of president for Lei Xu, who will take over day-to-day operations from the company from founder Richard Qiangdong Liu. Xu was formerly CEO of JD Retail. Liu will remain chairman and CEO of JD.com but will devote more of his time to long-term strategies and mentoring younger management.
65% of Consumer Electronics Returns Occur During Setup
Tsiki Naftaly, co-founder and co-CEO of Copilot, told PYMNTS that the days of pushing a product out the door and losing touch with the consumer who buys it are over. “In the new world, this is where your relationship with a customer actually just begins,” he said. Copilot recently launched a new “product returns mitigation engine” that not only detects when a consumer is having an issue, but also provides specific guidance on how to fix it in order to mitigate returns or bad reviews.
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