Walmart Hopes In-Person Advantage Can Shrink Amazon’s Fashion Lead

As Amazon outstrips Walmart in clothing sales, the latter is using its brick-and-mortar expertise in an attempt to close the gap.

The big-box retailer announced Friday (Sept. 6) the launch of its Walmart Style Tour, an in-person event traveling to a series of 40 or more locations across the United States. The move includes a range of activities, individualized styling tips for shoppers and some giveaways.

“The Walmart Style Tour is the first time we are creating this kind of experience for fashion, and we can’t wait to bring it to communities across the country at events we know our customers are already planning to attend,” Kim Tunick, group director of brand experiences and partnerships at Walmart, said in a statement.

The move comes as Walmart uses its physical store advantage, lagging behind Amazon in retail overall but being the clear expert when it comes to the brick-and-mortar experience. With this event, the superstore chain is specifically catering to the Click-and-Mortar™ shopper, who integrates both digital and in-person experiences into the shopping journey. The Style Tour’s services are informed by experiences that are “trending on TikTok,” per the statement.

Consumers turn to social media for shopping inspiration. PYMNTS Intelligence research revealed that approximately two-thirds of millennials and Generation Z consumers searched for goods and services on social media, although only 22% ultimately made a purchase via these platforms. Among Gen Z, TikTok is the second-most popular social media app for shopping inspiration, trailing behind only Instagram.

Amazon, meanwhile, has struggled more to break through in brick-and-mortar apparel. Last year, it shut down its two Amazon Style clothing stores to focus on eCommerce. Still, with the strength of its digital business, the online marketplace is growing its share in the category.

According to a report from People Thursday (Sept. 12), the company added more than 100 dresses for the fall season. Additionally, in July, the marketplace’s Prime Day deals event included a range of fashion deals and discounts on popular sneaker brands, such as Reebok and Fila, as well as on secondhand designer goods. In recent years, the eCommerce company has also been integrating fashion shopping opportunities into its Prime Video content.

Amazon’s apparel sales outpace Walmart’s nearly threefold. The latest installment of PYMNTS Intelligence’s Whole Paycheck Report, “Walmart Holds Grocery Lead Over Amazon Despite Overall Share Declines,” estimated the two retail giants’ market shares in various retail categories using years of their earnings reports in conjunction with national data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis. Supplemental research from the report revealed that in the second quarter of this year, Amazon captured a 16% share of U.S. clothing and apparel retail sales to Walmart’s 6.4%.

As Walmart strives to close the gap with Amazon in the clothing sector, the launch of the Walmart Style Tour marks a strategic effort to blend its established brick-and-mortar strengths with the evolving digital and omnichannel preferences of today’s shoppers. While Amazon continues to excel in the eCommerce realm, Walmart’s Click-and-Mortar™ approach indicates a push to narrow the gap and reinvigorate its presence in the fashion industry.