Reuters reports that Walmart has finally pulled the trigger on a deal that has been rumored for months, spending $310 million to buy men's fashion retailer Bonobos. Bonobos-branded items will be offered on both Walmart and Jet websites, the story says.
It is Walmart's fourth major e-commerce acquisition in a year, following ModCloth, Moosejaw and Shoebuy - and that doesn't even count its $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet, which has been driving its online strategy.
It is Walmart's fourth major e-commerce acquisition in a year, following ModCloth, Moosejaw and Shoebuy - and that doesn't even count its $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet, which has been driving its online strategy.
- KC's View:
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This story almost got lost on Friday amid all the publicity given to the Amazon-Whole Foods deal.
Interestingly, there seems to have been some social media blowback on this deal, with some Bonobos customers saying they see nothing so much as a cash grab on Bonobos' part, and that they have no intention of shopping at Walmart, even if it goes by another name.
This could be a problem for Amazon, too, if Whole Foods customers react the same way. But, I'd be willing to bet that there is a lot more overlap between Whole Foods and Amazon Prime customers than there is between Walmart/Jet and Bonobos customers.
I know what Walmart is trying to do here. I'm just not sure about the long-term effectiveness of the approach.
