Although one of the most groundbreaking investments in the markets, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) doesn’t get much love from anywhere else. Once just an eCommerce platform, the company has branched out into several (sometimes disparate) sectors. As a result, it has disrupted multiple players, setting up success for those who bought Amazon stock but anger and frustration among Amazon’s rivals.
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For years, the house that CEO Jeff Bezos built appeared impregnable. After all, AMZN was the disrupter, not the “disruptee.” But last year, stakeholders experienced a rare bit of disappointment.
While the Amazon stock price gained over 26% in 2019, long stretches featured uncharacteristically flat trading. A major reason for this was the rise of big-box retailers like Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Target (NYSE:TGT).
Increasingly, physical retailers have fired back against Amazon, bolstering their online presence while matching the eCommerce king with free shipping. Now, Walmart intends to make life even more difficult for its rival with the introduction of a grocery-picking robot. Should shareholders of AMZN stock worry?
Hitting Amazon Stock Where It Hurts
On the surface, the Walmart announcement doesn’t bode well for AMZN stock. Unsurprisingly, the big-box retailer has been swinging hard, desperate to maintain its presence in an increasingly digitalized environment. But with their automated grocery system, Walmart finally delivered a clean, bell-ringing headshot.
Called the Alphabot, Walmart’s advanced automated system can pick and pack orders at an impossibly fast rate. We’re talking about ten-times faster than an average human employee. Without the overhead costs that employees impose, Walmart’s grocery robot can theoretically create massive cost savings if built to scale. This will also pressure the Amazon stock price because the underlying company is actually having difficulties managing its retail strategy.
According to The New York Times’ Karen Weise, Amazon’s ambitions are coming at a big cost to AMZN stock. Weise writes:
The one-day offering lets Amazon get a bigger piece of consumers’ wallets on products typically bought at grocery stores or pharmacies. A typical order for items shipped in two days or more is $23.33, and Amazon spends $5.08 to fulfill and ship the items, according to a Morgan Stanley analysis. But for one-day shipping, the typical order is $8.32, and Amazon spends $10.59 to fulfill and ship it, meaning it loses money on many sales.
But won’t Walmart incur costs rolling out their automated grocery system? Undoubtedly, it will, which is why I wouldn’t panic on AMZN stock. However, Walmart, despite losing its world’s largest retailer status to Amazon, has a massive physical footprint. Therefore, the shipping costs will arguably be less than Amazon’s, even with the automated system factored in.
Especially in major metropolitan areas, you won’t strain to find a Walmart location. This gives consumers incredible flexibility and allows Walmart to realistically scale up its automation.
No Panic Necessary for AMZN Stock
While the big-box retailing industry’s resistance is a challenge, I wouldn’t call it a deal-breaker. Primarily, I recommend calm because of demographics. Simply, Amazon and Walmart cater to different categories of customers. Not only that, Amazon caters to the more desirable customer.
Based on a survey from retail analytics firm Kantar Retail, the average Walmart shopper “is a white, 50-year-old woman with an annual household income of $53,125.” On the other hand, the average Amazon customer is 37 years old and makes nearly $63,000 a year.
Thus, the Amazon shopper is younger and makes more money. Presumably, they’re also more tech-savvy than the average Walmart shopper. That means any digital convenience investments that Amazon makes will meet a more targeted, relevant audience. To me, that’s a far better profile for AMZN stock.
Let’s a go a bit deeper. Currently, millennials represent the largest demographic in the U.S. workforce. This means that the spending power of the average Amazon shopper should steadily rise. In turn, the Walmart shopper’s spending power may decline. Therefore, while the nearer-term momentum favors Walmart, AMZN stock will likely benefit in the longer term.
Nevertheless, I like both companies and I believe there’s room enough for them to thrive. And I appreciate Walmart’s moxy in bringing the fight to Amazon. But this is just one round: it’s not the entire match.
As of this writing, Josh Enomoto did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.