I ordered the same items from Amazon and Walmart to see which one does e-commerce better — and they both had major flaws (AMZN, WMT)

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• Amazon and Walmart are the two largest sellers of merchandise online.
• Amazon has been dominant, but Walmart has drastically beefed up its online offerings to compete.
• I tested both of them head-to-head to see which one does e-commerce better now. It was difficult to come to a conclusion.

Amazon versus Walmart is the story of our time — at least when it comes to shopping online.

As more and more customers move their shopping online, retailers are racing to convince them to buy from their website instead of a competitor’s. The two companies that have captured many of those customers are Amazon, and, to a smaller extent, Walmart. It seems on the surface level that the two retailers’ offerings now might be equal in terms of price and convenience.

Walmart has seen improvement in its US online sales, reporting 40% growth for 2018. Amazon, on the other hand, was estimated to account for nearly half of all online sales in 2018, according to Emarketer data.  

Keeping that in mind, there was only one thing I could do: put both retailers’ e-commerce offerings to the test.

I ordered a handful of items from each retailer, matching the SKU as well as I could. Then it was time to sit back and watch the orders roll in, making sure to log every email correspondence and message from the companies.

What I found was that while the two services are not exact copies of each other, they’re basically equal. I had quibbles with both, and I found there’s definitely room for improvement and innovation in the e-commerce space. Keep reading for my full experience:

SEE ALSO: Many of Amazon’s exclusive products look just like other brands you know and love — see them side by side

I started my quest on Walmart.com, where I was sure to find everything I needed to meet a few specific goals I had in mind.

A list of departments and a search bar helped me find everything I needed. Seasonal call-outs, for example to “stretch your tax refund,” were cute, but not necessarily helpful since I already knew what I was looking for.

I wanted something sweet, and these Reese’s Eggs fit the bill perfectly. They would be even cheaper if bought in-store, but I don’t have a local Walmart store. Alas.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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