Amazon and Walmart compete, who will be more successful in 2022?

Amazon and Walmart, each the biggest rival in the U.S. retail market, continue to battle for dominance in the market for everyday essentials as inflation curbs spending power, while also competing for consumers' disposable income.

Recently, PYMNTS released a report titled "The Battle between Amazon and Walmart in the Second Quarter of 2022", which details the current competitive situation between Amazon and Walmart in various consumer market sectors.

Overall consumer spending

Amazon accounted for 6.5% of consumer retail spending and 3.1% of total consumer spending at the end of the second quarter of 2022. Walmart accounted for 7.1% of consumer retail spending, slightly surpassing Amazon again this quarter, but lagged slightly behind in total consumer spending at 3.0%.

As of the second quarter of 2022, Walmart's share of consumer retail spending has slipped below 2019's level of 7.1%, but the company still leads the field.

Non-essential spending

Amazon’s share of discretionary spending remains unchallenged, with Amazon commanding 14% of the market compared to Walmart’s 4.9%. Amazon continues to lead across all discretionary spending categories including sporting goods, music, hobbies, apparel and accessories, furniture and home furnishings, and electronics and appliances.

In the first quarter of 2019, Amazon captured 8.7% of consumer discretionary spending. By the second quarter of 2022, this share had increased to 14%. Walmart, on the other hand, is losing ground in consumer discretionary spending - at the start of the first quarter of 2019, it held a 5.6% share; by the second quarter of 2022, it had fallen to 4.9%.

Grocery Market

Despite maintaining its lead in food and beverages, Walmart is slowly losing share of the grocery market as other retailers like Kroger, Target and Costco grab a larger share of sales.

Amazon still only had 2% of the food and beverage market in the second quarter of 2022, including its sales through Whole Foods Market. Amazon's share of this market has not changed significantly since it acquired Whole Foods in 2017.

In the first quarter of 2019, Amazon accounted for 1.7% of the US food and beverage market, which means that its share has only increased by 0.3% over the past three years. Walmart had a 16.3% share of the food and beverage category in the first quarter of 2019, and as of the second quarter of 2022, this share has fallen to 15.6%.

E-commerce market

The survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers showed that Amazon maintained its lead in e-commerce compared to Walmart.

75% of U.S. consumers primarily shop from Amazon, while 43% shop from Walmart.com . 57% of consumers have an Amazon Prime membership, while 31% have Walmart+. Additionally, 63% of online shoppers start their search on Amazon, while 43% start their search on Walmart.com.

Nearly 71% of respondents are more likely to make small purchases ($0 to $99) from Walmart.com, compared to 66% on Amazon, and consumers are more likely to buy groceries, medicines and cleaning supplies on Walmart.com than on Amazon.

The survey also found that both Amazon and Walmart's online marketplaces are dominated by third-party sellers, accounting for 82% of all sales, while Walmart's nearly 79% are third-party sellers.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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