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The context around Walmart's statement on its potential bid for TikTok with Microsoft is important.
Walmart has operated in China since 1996. Despite its history, it failed in e-commerce. It outsourced its e-commerce operations to http://JD.com in 2016.
Walmart has operated in China since 1996. Despite its history, it failed in e-commerce. It outsourced its e-commerce operations to http://JD.com in 2016.
Who else has a stake in http://JD.com ? Tencent--owner of WeChat. The partnership means that WeChat sends traffic to http://JD.com and http://JD.com is the exclusive retailer WeChat.
Walmart has had a front row seat on the future of e-commerce through its presence in China, but especially watching how JD and WeChat have partnered together. It's not too far-fetched for Walmart to take that playbook to the US.
The Walmart statement is short, but this stood out to me "grow our third-party marketplace." How does Walmart grow its third-party marketplace with TikTok? It does it by letting third party merchants sell through TikTok without touching any Walmart platforms.
It's a smart move, especially as livestreaming/social commerce take hold in the US. But what would it look like? Oh, http://JD.com has a service to help its merchants set up mini-programs. That's looks like something Walmart can do.
So what's not in the statement? Personalization. I've been using TikTok since April. The personalization on the For You Page is incredible & it reminded me of JD and Alibaba's personalization. Walmart could adapt the personalization to improve its own UX.
There are definitely some technology applications on the backend that would benefit Walmart.
