Walmart and Amazon have been in an e-commerce rivalry for a long time now, but Walmart is lagging behind and doesn't seem to be catching up with Amazon at any point. Soon. These two retailers have their strengths and business models that have allowed them to become one of the most profitable companies in recent years. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Walmart started small as a discount store in Arkansas and experienced some of the fastest growth in a short period of time. This was contributed by their approach of offering some of the lowest prices in the world, attracting a huge customer base. This approach was complemented by their ability to purchase items in large volumes, thereby dictating the price at which they received products from suppliers, the suppliers complied because they had become dependent on Walmart's high demand. Walmart used the traditional physical sales approach in which they build physical stores and consumers would have to physically visit to make purchases. They have tried to integrate this approach with an e-commerce approach in order to compete with other online retailers and especially Amazon. Amazon started as an online book seller with founder Jeff Bezos using his garage as a store from which he shipped. Two years later, Jeff Bezos began selling CDs and DVDs alongside books, and two years later he said he wanted Amazon.com to be an "everything store." Amazon has thus massively grown its business and its customer base and, in 2013, its revenues exceeded $74 billion. Amazon's e-commerce model has allowed them to reduce the costs that Walmart bears, such as building physical stores. The central warehouses used by Amazon and other online stores from which products were shipped also reduced costs by reducing the labor required. They also implemented lower fixed costs and a wide selection of books, which helped them increase their market share. Both of these companies experienced significant growth despite using different models and Walmart found it logical to develop an e-commerce model while retaining the physical model. This is partly because the value of the online retail market has increased significantly since 2008, when it was between $132 billion and $200 billion in 2012 and was forecast to grow by 371 billion dollars in 2017. The online battle started here and both companies have taken steps to try and get the largest market share in terms of online sales. Walmart viewed online sales as an extension of its physical sales and did not seem to pay much attention to the online approach. Their website was poor and attracted criticism from many people who found it embarrassing. Walmart's deliveries were not well managed, leading to delays and even failures. Amazon, for its part, had started selling everything, including products sold at Walmart. Amazon went further and even hired some Walmart staff to give them a sneak peek at new products. Their online market share was growing significantly and gaining a significant advantage over Walmart. They decided to allow other people, including their competitors, to profit from site traffic and sell products on Amazon.com. In 2000, Walmart.com broke away and partnered with two.