It’s no secret that Walmart has a ton of ground to make up on Amazon in the world of e-commerce, and the retailing giant has just taken another small step towards closing the gap. As CNBC shares, Walmart just made another acquisition in the space, as they have snapped up specialty online apparel retailer ModCloth.
No word on the purchase price as of yet, but it’s believed to be somewhere in the range of recent acquisitions the company has made. The company acquired outdoor apparel retailer Moosejaw for $51 million last month, and that came on the heels of the $70 million purchase of Shoebuy. ModCloth caters to curvy women, and it had attracted a fervent following since its founding back in 2002.
“Assortment is driving a lot of these acquisitions. We can pick up some of these companies that are great regarding the assortment and the service they provide, but they don’t have enough money to lose, to go market their brand and scale it,” CEO Doug McMillon said before the acquisition.
Following the purchase, the company struck a similar tone in a statement, noting that buying ModCloth will help Walmart “gain the experience of a well-recognized specialty apparel e-commerce brand that’s trusted by millions of millennial women.”
Initial plans call for ModCloth to continue to operate its own website as a standalone and complementary brand to its new parent company. ModCloth co-founder Susan Gregg Koger shared her thoughts in a letter on the company’s website. “For me, today is a bittersweet day. When I started ModCloth way back in 2002, in the summer between high school and college, I had big dreams. But I had no idea we would grow to become one of the largest independent online fashion retailers in the world,” the letter read in part.
Walmart’s biggest salvo to date in the e-commerce wars was its $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com for $3.3 billion last September. Since then, it has been a series of smaller purchases, but it’s quite clear what the retailing giant has in mind. While there’s plenty of ground to be made up in the e-commerce race with Amazon, there’s something to be said for being number two in the massive market. Combine that with its market-leading role in the world of brick-and-mortar, and it makes for one venerable retailer that doesn’t need to worry about being knocked off its perch anytime soon.
