Big news in retail industry: Jet.com is officially no more. Launched in 2015 by Marc Lore (who had previously sold Diapers.com to Amazon) and then bought by Walmart a year later for $3 billion cash in 2016. Jet has existed for only 5 years. In their very short email note to their customers, Jet addressed this with the following: Dear Jet customer,
We’re seeing the Walmart brand resonate regardless of income, geography or age, and have made the decision to discontinue Jet.com and fully integrate with the Walmart eCommerce business. This move is a natural evolution of our eCommerce strategy, which has been focused on building the best assortment and removing friction from our customers.
On their website which no consists of only one page, there is another note:
We want to thank for your past business and support throughout the last five years. Without your support, Jet would not be able to make this progressive move. All of Jet’s awesome merchandise is now on Walmart.com, including Uniquely J! Head there to complete your order.
Walmart is claiming that aquiring Jet helped them to propel into the Ecommerce market. The question I am still wondering about is whether this was worth 3 billion dollars or could have been acomplished without the aquision for much much less cash.