Lord & Taylor teams with Walmart to drive digital commerce sales
It’s starting to accelerate, the shift to digital commerce from brick & mortar that is part of our Connected Society investing theme, and it’s giving way to some interesting partnerships and business models. In this case, it’s Walmart, traditionally a retailer that meshes with our Cash-Strapped Consumer investing theme, partnering with Lord & Taylor, a retailer that spans our Rise & Fall of the Middle Class and Affordable Luxury themes. Both are looking to leverage the other to drive traffic and sales, but the new business model resembles the “store within a store” model being utilized by Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Given that Lord & Taylor will keep its own e-commerce platforms, it seems this linkage with Walmart.com is more a test-bed for Lord & Taylor, while Walmart hopes to court other retailers and branded apparel as it looks to position itself firmly against Amazon.
One way or another, odds are this is just the beginning for these kinds of linkages and tie-ups.
Walmart and Hudson’s Bay-owned department store Lord & Taylor just announced an interesting partnership — Lord & Taylor will start selling its catalog of high-end fashion merchandise on Walmart.com this Spring.Of
Lord & Taylor will have its own “flagship store” on Walmart.com — which essentially will be a section on Walmart’s website dedicated to goods sold by Lord & Taylor.
For Walmart, this partnership is a way to drive traffic from customers looking for high-end items that otherwise may not be shopping on Walmart.com.
And for Lord & Taylor, the deal is also about traffic — department stores are struggling, and opening a store on Walmart.com will give them a bunch of new eyeballs (and potential shoppers) they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten. It’s almost like the modern-day version of renting retail space on 5th Avenue in NYC. Lord & Taylor will keep their existing e-commerce site at lordandtaylor.com, so this new store is really just to attract new customers that wouldn’t otherwise shop with them online.
Source: Lord & Taylor will start selling on Walmart.com | TechCrunch
