Walmart buys fashion web shop Modcloth

Walmart has acquired online fashion retailer Modcloth, known for its vintage-inspired collections over the past fifteen years. It will now be integrated with Jet.com, with which the company wants to compete with Amazon.

80 million dollars

Over the past decade and a half, Modcloth went from a tiny hobby project to an online retailer with a 150 million dollar (140 million euro) turnover in 2015. Throughout its history, it has attracted 80 million dollars (75 million euro) in investments and even experimented with physical stores. Regardless of all these ventures, it never managed to become profitable and also failed to attract new investments, which is why it has now been sold to Walmart for an estimated 80 million dollars (75 million euro)

Modcloth will become Walmart’s fourth acquisition to strengthen Jet.com since March 2016, following furniture seller Hayneedle, shoe store Shoebuy and fashion shop Moosejaw. Jet.com itself was acquired for three billion euro. The entire strategy is designed to fortify and expand Walmart’s reach online, because it can feel Amazon moving in and needs to fight back with its own online alternative, which is why it will definitely increase its online investments.