By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 23rd, 2024
With AMZN stock down 4%, the e-commerce is facing competition from Walmart that is working on a new service Walmart+ to surpass Amazon Prime.
As coronavirus reaches for more countries outside China, tech companies are suffering stock collapse. This week, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) plunged 6% each. AMN Healthcare Services Inc (NYSE: AMN) and Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) dropped 7.3% and 5.6% respectively. Further, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock fell 1.76%. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock lost 4% on Thursday as well.
On February 25, Amazon (AMZN) stock lost 4.1% of its value and ended up closing just a little over $2,009, still with a $1 trillion market cap. Besides, its CEO and founder Jeff Bezos lost approximately $5 billion of his personal wealth. The next day, the company’s shares were down 2%. At closing on Wednesday, the stock was at $1,979.59 after gaining 0.35%. In after-hours trading, however, it lost a few more points and fell to $1,968 (-0.59%).
Tech companies are losing positions while stock market indexes are also down. For example, Dow Jones and S&P 500 crashed. Dow Jones plunged as much as 1000 points, S&P 500 dropped over 10% registering its fastest crash to date.
For Amazon, the crescent darkness results not only from shares falling. With Amazon stock down 4% (and down 2% in the premarket), the e-commerce giant is facing competition from Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT), a multinational retail corporation. The giant is currently working on a new subscription service Walmart+ that will have all chances to surpass Amazon Prime.
Amazon Prime vs Walmart +
Amazon launched its membership program Amazon Prime in 2005. Within the program, its members receive free two-day shipping, access to streaming services for music, videos, books, audiobooks, and more. Starting with signing up for a free 30-day trial, the participants are then charged with either a discounted yearly fee ($119) or a regular monthly fee ($12.99). Since the launch, Amazon Prime Prime has served as Amazon’s advantage over Walmart. Besides, it helped Amazon to compete on price with physical retailers, allowing it to grow from an online bookseller to the largest online merchant of a variety of goods. The service has over 150 million members around the globe.
As for Walmart+ service, it will launch as a rebrand of Walmart’s existing Delivery Unlimited service. The latter allows customers to receive unlimited same-day grocery delivery services. It costs $98 a year and is currently available through around 1,600 Walmart locations throughout the US. In addition, Walmart+ will include perk likee discounts on prescription drugs and gas purchased through Walmart locations. Walmart+ members will also reportedly be able to purchase items without going through checkout via Scan & Go technology.
With the new program, Walmart could improve its financial results. Recently, the company reported its earnings for the 2019 fourth quarter which disappointed the market and fell short of expectations. Following the report, the Walmart (WMT) stock price has started to move down.
Walmart’s executives have declined to comment on the initiative. But it is known that the giant will start publicly testing the program as soon as next month.