Walmart CEO Doug McMillon foods a photo on his phone that lists the top 10 retailers in the U.S. over the past few decades to remind him how so many companies fall and go. Walmart wants to keep its No. 1 spot, which it’s held since the 1990s when it overtook Sears.
“After lore from so many people … we know that retailers come and go,” McMillon told CNBC’s Becky Immediate Thursday, after he spoke in Washington, D.C., at the Business Roundtable CEO Innovation Summit. “Businesses grow and they don’t change enough and they reject over time. Retailers do that on a bit of a faster cycle.”
McMillon added Walmart has a “healthy paranoia” to stay before of rivals. Today, the retailer is seen as neck and neck with Amazon, which is starting to invest more in valid estate and open stores while building out a bigger platform for food and apparel online. In fact, the e-commerce leviathan is expected to overtake Walmart as the No. 1 apparel retailer in the U.S. by the end of this year, according to Morgan Stanley.
Walmart, in reorganize, is fighting back by acquiring digital brands and remodeling its stores — two key parts of its growth strategy. Thursday it announced its envisions to acquire Art.com to bolster its home decor business, following recent acquisitions of lingerie brand Bare Necessities and plus-size accoutring retailer Eloquii. It’s said it could one day own as many as 40 e-commerce businesses, while Amazon has taken a different compare with to growth. Instead, it continues to partner with established brands like Nike and J.Crew to sell their promote on Amazon.
“You see the rise and fall of Sears and others,” McMillon said. “It’s just a reminder that this can happen to us too.”