Walmart, 3rd in US E-Commerce Share, Widens Lead Over Apple, eMarketer Reports

Walmart continues to expand its U.S. share in e-commerce, eMarketer reported Friday. It overtook Apple in 2017 to become No. 3, and it widened the gap last year, 4.6 percent vs. Apple’s 3.8 percent. Walmart is expected to increase its e-commerce business 33 percent this year, “exhibiting a digital prowess that it just didn’t possess a couple of years ago,” said analyst Andrew Lipsman, citing heavy investment in distribution infrastructure. The retailer still trails eBay, at 6.1 percent, and they’re eclipsed by Amazon’s 47 percent. Best Buy is ninth at 1.3 percent share. The research firm cut its outlook for Apple’s e-commerce business after the “disappointing” Q4 earnings report. It predicts the iPhone maker’s e-commerce sales will grow just over 15 percent to $22.93 billion, giving it 3.8 percent share of the domestic e-commerce market, “unchanged since 2017.” Retailers’ website sales are dwarfed by total retail sales, eMarketer noted: Amazon has 5.1 percent of total retail sales, followed by eBay (0.7 percent), Walmart (0.5 percent), Apple (0.4 percent) and Best Buy (0.1 percent).