Who will win in the battle for dominance between Walmart and Amazon? Whoever comes out on top, it will likely determine the future of retail… and it may all come down to online grocery sales.
The match began in 2016 when Walmart, the nearly 70-year-old brick-and-mortar discount retailer, purchased Jet.com in a bid to infringe into the world of e-commerce. Standing dominant in that world is Amazon, who hit back at Walmart a year later by purchasing all 479 locations of the high-end Whole Foods grocery chain. However, it soon became apparent that customers preferred the “click to collect” method over straight shipping – no matter how fast the delivery. But for that method to take hold, you need an abundance of physical locations. This puts Walmart, who can boast of a store location within 10 miles of ninety percent of Americans, at a distinct advantage over Amazon.
Walmart has been gaining on Amazon’s more established online presence. A Deutsche Bank analysis from October of 2018 predicted that Walmart’s 11 percent market share in the e-commerce world would swell to 17 percent by 2025 – but would still be dominated by Amazon by that point. The online giant plans to defend its market share by expanding both the Whole Foods footprint in 2019 and, potentially, the number of Amazon Go locations by 2021.
But how is the view from the inside for both companies? How does Amazon’s company culture stack up against Walmart’s company culture? While Walmart may be catching up in terms of sales, it’s clear that employees of one company feel much more satisfied with their culture, which we can see thanks to data harvested from Comparably’s anonymous employee queries.
Amazon employees are generally positive about the company’s culture. “Pretty much everybody I interface seems to enjoy their work,” says one. Another writes, “The scale and scope of responsibilities even at an entry-level corporate role is fantastic… the people you work with are generally top-tier individuals in terms of capability and accountability.” But another offers this advice: “If you’re going to make it there you have to self-promote like mad, and focus on optics rather than your actual job duties.”
As for Walmart’s culture, one employee writes, “Everyone has little interest in what they are personally doing, and the company itself doesn’t try much to change that.”
Female employees rank Amazon’s company culture slightly lower at a solid B, but agree with Walmart’s C rating.
Ranked by Forbes last year as the richest man in the world, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is also one of the world’s most famous chief executives, and is thought of as highly driven. “Those who work with him feel he can be difficult. But it is because he knows, or wants to know, all aspects,” says one Amazon employee. Another writes, “I think he’s out of touch with the demands on the associates at the fulfillment level… the employee is just a number.”
After leading their Sam’s Club division, Doug McMillon was made the fifth CEO of Walmart in 2014. He began with the company as a teenager in 1984. While one employee writes that the general feeling is that “the current CEO has the company headed in the right direction,” McMillon is also accused by his workers of being out of touch: “(He) has no idea that the ideas he has implemented are failures.”
When asked what they thought of their pay, one Walmart employee answered that after implementing an increase in starting wage, Walmart “immediately cut hours to compensate for that increase.”
One Amazon employee writes, “Very well paid. Satisfied.” Another cautions that “part of your ‘total compensation’ is a productivity bonus, so it’s highly common to hear that your building hit some landmark for most packages shipped since the building opened, but that you didn’t hit the arbitrary goal percentage, so no bonus for you.”
In terms of perks and benefits, one Amazon employee writes, “In general, Amazon has a principle of ‘frugality’ so they don’t give employees anything they consider a ‘frill’ but of course you get health insurance, a very low matching 401k, $100 of Amazon goods each year, and the stock.”
When sorted by female employees, Amazon rates a slightly higher gender score than the average at 73. Walmart’s gender score remains the same when filtered by gender.
An Amazon worker writes, “The majority of tech roles (are) filled by males. Amazon is making progress, but still has a long way to go regarding equal treatment and internalized sexism.” Another employee tells us, regarding the company’s diversity efforts, “I have… seen notable changes from my first 2-3 years with the company. However, it is a mixed bag.”
“I don’t believe this company will ever get better. The higher-ups look down on us,” says one Walmart worker. But another writes, “They have the resources and infrastructure to stay in the game for the long haul.”
“Fulfillment centers are growing extremely fast,” says one Amazon employee. Another points to logistics as “growing like crazy.” Amazon “will survive and conquer,” writes another.
