Walmart not combining store, online buying teams

Despite an earlier report to the contrary, Walmart is not combining its online and store buying functions.

 

Reuters had reported that the discounter was combining its online and store buying operations as it moves to make itself more competitive with Amazon. The report was picked up by numerous media outlets.

 

Based on information from Walmart, however, the chain is not merging the stores and walmart.com buying teams. The two will continue to operate as two separate teams.  

 

Walmart is streamlining the process for store items to appear online. If an item is available for sale in the store, it will now also be approved for the online assortment, and the stores’ buyer will be able to purchase those items for both channels.

 

“This is part of a continued effort to better serve customers by creating a more efficient process that accelerates how we bring the full assortment of products in stores to Walmart.com,” Walmart said in a statement. “It also allows for Walmart.com buyers to focus on expanding the online assortment.”