Last year Walmart bought jet.com. Did you know that?
It's now apparent that they have decided to support both
brands. As the company has explained,
jet.com is an urban Millennial brand and Walmart has not made any inroads with
that target on their own. (Green, 2017)
While Walmart is experimenting with online ordering and
customer pick-ups, jet.com is chasing wealthier shoppers and launching a
private label brand called Uniquely J.
(Corkery, 2017)
It sounds interesting.
But I am reminded of a Director of Marketing at Uncle Ben's who told me
that long term she couldn't afford to support multiple brands so they would all
need to live under the corporate umbrella.
So what are the pros and cons of having two different
brands? If Millennials don't like your
brand, should you buy one that they do like?
Can you reach out to different targets without appearing
inauthentic?
Would you use jet.com if
you knew they were owned by Walmart? Do
you think the different brands appeal to different personality types? Different business styles?
Green,
D. (2017, September 29) How Walmart
turned its $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com into its greatest weapon against
Amazon. businessinsider.com. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from
Corkery, M. (2017, October 6) Shopping Without Schlepping. The New
York Times. p B1.
