Walmart finalized a deal to purchase Bonobos this past Friday for a whopping $310 million, according to the New York Times.
In a “sweeping effort by the world’s largest retailer to revamp its business model as it tries to better compete with Amazon,” Walmart’s e-commerce division, under the leadership of Jet.com founder, Marc Lore, is “working aggressively to transform itself into a dominant force” in the space.
And acquiring Bonobos, the online purveyor of men’s chinos, suits, shirts and more, is the latest step in that attempted transformation. (For those into Bonobos, but not all that into the idea of Menswear by Walmart, don’t fret: for now, e-comm means e-comm, and “there are no plans to offer Bonobos’s $98 chinos or $128 dress shirts in Walmart’s 5,000-plus stores.”)
Since taking over as the head of the division, Lore had already spent a reported $166 million scooping up brands like ModCloth and Shoebuy.com, but, according to the Times, “buying Bonobos is the biggest step yet” in Walmart’s attempt to keep pace with Amazon’s seemingly inexorable growth (they bought Whole Foods! What!?!).
And, as the article notes, “there are early signs that Walmart’s effort is paying off. [Their] e-commerce sales in the first quarter grew 63 percent from the same time a year ago, with most of the gains coming from Walmart.com.”
You can read more about it at The New York Times.
