Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was founded by Sam Walton in nearby Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 and incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law on October 31, 1969. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses.
Lands' End is an American clothing and home decor retailer founded in 1963 and based in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, that specializes in casual clothing, luggage, and home furnishings. The majority of the company's business is conducted through mail order and Internet sales, but the company also has retail stores, primarily in the Upper Midwest, along with international shops in the UK, Germany, Japan, France and Austria. From 2002 to 2014, Lands' End was a subsidiary of Sears Holdings.
Rakuten Group, Inc. is a Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo, founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997. Centered around Rakuten Ichiba, its business-to-many ecommerce platform and one of the largest e-commerce sites in the world, its businesses include financial services utilizing financial technology, as well as digital content and communications services such as messaging app Viber, e-book distributor Kobo, and Japan's fourth mobile carrier Rakuten Mobile. Rakuten has 14,826 employees worldwide, operating in 29 countries and regions, and its revenues totaled US$7.2 billion with operating profits of about US$347.9 million as of 2016. Rakuten is the official sponsor of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona as of 2021. It is often referred to as the "Amazon of Japan".
Amazon China, formerly known as Joyo.com, is an online shopping website. Joyo.com was founded in early 2000 by the Chinese entrepreneur Lei Jun in Beijing, China. The company primarily sold books and other media goods, shipping to customers nationwide. Joyo.com was renamed to “Amazon China” when sold to Amazon Inc in 2004 for US$75 Million. Amazon China closed its domestic business in China in June 2019, offering only products from sellers located overseas.
Moosejaw.com is an online and brick and mortar retailer specializing in outdoor recreation apparel and gear for snowboarding, rock climbing, hiking, and camping. The company was founded in 1992 by Bill Schulman, a teacher and summer camp director, and Robert Wolfe and David Jaffe, two longtime friends who chose to sell camping equipment instead of becoming wilderness guides. Moosejaw is known for its nonsensical marketing called "Moosejaw Madness".
Sierra Trading Post, Inc., doing business as Sierra, is an online and brick-and-mortar retailer of off-price merchandise operated by the TJX Companies. The Framingham, Massachusetts–based company offers products in categories such as outdoor recreation, fitness and adventure gear, and apparel, along with footwear, clothing, and home decor. Sierra sells merchandise through 46 retail stores as of November 2019 and a company website. It carries products from approximately 3,000 name-brand manufacturers.
Home Accents Today is a trade publication and web site owned by BridgeTower Media serving the information needs of designers, manufacturers and buyers of home accents - decorative accessories, accent furniture, wall decor, mirrors, rugs, lamps, lighting, permanent botanicals, soft goods and tabletop.
Home Décor Products, Inc. was a large online retailer of home improvement and furnishings, headquartered in Edison, New Jersey. It claimed to stock more than 450,000 home products from more than 800 luxury brands including TOTO, Lenox, Kohler, and Jacuzzi.
ModCloth is an American online retailer of indie and vintage-inspired women’s clothing. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles.
Walmart Labs became part of Walmart Global Tech, the technology and business services organization within Walmart. Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman founded Kosmix in 2005. In April 2011, Walmart acquired Kosmix and formed @WalmartLabs, a research division, out of it. In 2006, Walmart combined Walmart Labs and its information systems division (ISD) into one team called Walmart Technology. In August 2020, Walmart Technology launched its new identity as Walmart Global Tech as part of a new technology and shared services organization within the world's largest retailer.
Chairish is an online marketplace for unique and one-of-a-kind furniture, art and home decor. Chairish's inventory offers a curated assortment of vintage and antique pieces alongside best-in-class items from coveted designer brands, original artists and exclusive makers.
Fanatics, Inc. is an American online retailer of licensed sportswear, sports equipment, and merchandise. It was formed in 1995 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Fanatics offers products via its Fanatics and FansEdge brands, as well as sports collectibles and memorabilia through Fanatics Authentic and SportsMemorabilia.com. Fanatics operates the e-commerce websites of major professional sports leagues and media brands, as well as over 150 collegiate and professional team properties. They are also the exclusive online distributor for the United States Olympic Team and Paris Saint-Germain.
Marc Eric Lore is an American entrepreneur, businessman, investor, and NBA owner. In December 2021, CNBC reported that Lore is now the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Wonder Group. From 2016 to 2021, he was the President and CEO of Walmart U.S. eCommerce. Lore was appointed in September 2016 to lead Walmart's e-commerce division when his company Jet.com, an e-commerce website launched in 2014, was acquired by Walmart, Inc. Walmart purchased Jet for $3.3 billion. Prior to Jet, Lore was the CEO and co-founder of Quidsi, the parent company of a family of websites including Diapers.com. Quidsi was sold in 2011 to Amazon for $545 million. Lore was named regional Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2011, one of the "smartest people in technology" by Fortune, and dubbed the LeBron James of e-commerce by Matt Higgins.
Jet.com was an American e-commerce company headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company was co-founded in 2014 by Marc Lore, along with Mike Hanrahan and Nate Faust. Jet.com raised $820 million over four venture rounds from GV, Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital Ventures, Accel Partners, Alibaba Group, and Fidelity. The website was formally launched in July 2015. In Fall 2016, it became a subsidiary of Walmart.
The retail apocalypse is the closing of numerous brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains worldwide, starting around 2010 and continuing onward. In 2019, retailers in the United States announced 9,302 store closings, a 59% jump from 2018, and the highest number since tracking the data began in 2012. Over 12,000 physical stores have closed due to factors including over-expansion of malls, rising rents, bankruptcies of leveraged buyouts, low quarterly profits outside holiday binge spending, delayed effects of the Great Recession, and changes in spending habits. American consumers have shifted their purchasing habits due to various factors, including experience-spending versus material goods and homes, casual fashion in relaxed dress codes, as well as the rise of e-commerce, mostly in the form of competition from juggernaut companies such as Amazon.com and Walmart. A 2017 Business Insider report dubbed this phenomenon the "Amazon effect," and calculated that Amazon.com was generating greater than 50% of the growth of retail sales.
Shoes.com is an American footwear retailer. The website was established in Boston during 1999. In 2006, the company was acquired by IAC. In December 2016, Jet.com completed the acquisition of ShoeBuy from IAC. It was reported that Walmart paid US$70 million for the company. As of 2017, Shoes.com contains over one million products, many which can also be purchased on Jet.com. ShoeBuy was re-branded as Shoes.com shortly after the acquisition closed.
Affirm is a publicly traded financial technology company headquartered in San Francisco, United States. Founded in 2012, the company operates as a financial lender of installment loans for consumers to use at the point of sale to finance a purchase.
