Walmart Makes A Call on the Future of Retail
Walmart makes a big call, exiting its Japanese subsidiary, as the retail giant focuses mainly in the United States (and India) with a big push in ecommerce. Simply, Walmart is making a call on the future of retail, and it is electronic. Its business in Japan has a decelerating future and since the company does not think it can compete with Rakuten, Japan’s leading ecommerce player, the best strategy is to exit.
Walmart is pulling back on its operations in Japan, selling most of its shares in local supermarket chain Seiyu as it continues to reassess its physical footprint outside of the U.S. The deal values Seiyu at over $1.6 billion, “and means Walmart will almost completely exit its operations in Japan,” according to TechCrunch. The retail behemoth has sold a handful of longtime overseas holdings in recent weeks, including operations in the U.K. and Argentina. Meanwhile, Walmart has doubled down on e-commerce as the pandemic accelerates the shift to online shopping.