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For big box retailers Home Depot and Walmart, the pressure to compete against Amazon is huge. One way brick-and-mortar businesses are stepping up against the e-commerce giant is by using physical stores to their advantage.
Using Physical Stores to Compete Against E-Commerce Leaders
Home Depot and Walmart are using their brick and mortar stores to pack and ship online orders, according to Business Insider.
Amazon processes and ships online orders out of 108 fulfillment centers across the U.S. Yet Walmart utilizes many more pack-and-ship locations. It has five large distribution centers, 100 small e-commerce facilities and 80 retail stores to manage online orders.
Similarly, Home Depot is using its stores for its new program “BODFS” or “buy online and deliver from store,” Home Depot CEO Craig Menear told Business Insider.
Through the BODFS program, customers can have orders delivered from their local Home Depot store, which shortens their waiting time. Currently available in 700 stores, it will be available in all locations by the end of the year.
Regardless of using physical stores, Walmart and Home Depot still trail behind Amazon in terms of overall online revenue.
While Amazon’s online sales were $107 billion in 2015, Walmart’s online sales were $13.7 billion. Home Depot doesn’t break out sales for e-commerce, but online sales made up 5.6 percent of its $26.5 billion in second-quarter sales, according to Business Insider.
