Walmart Inc. began Wednesday to sell some of its online sales technology to smaller retailers through a partnership with Adobe.
The Walmart products will allow smaller retailers to offer services such as the popular buy-online-pickup-in-store. Adobe's role involves selling the cloud-based software by subscription on its Adobe Commerce platform, Walmart said.
"Combining Adobe's strength in powering commerce experiences with our unmatched omni-customer expertise, we can accelerate other companies' digital transformations," said Suresh Kumar, Walmart's chief technology officer and chief development officer.
Anil Chakravarthy, executive vice president and general manager of digital experience business and worldwide field operations at Adobe, said the collaboration with Walmart will "help Adobe merchants expand their businesses to new channels and offer shopping experiences that increase their competitiveness in an increasingly digital economy."
According to the 2021 Adobe Digital Economy Index, the percentage of buy-online-pickup-in-store orders for retailers that offer the service grew from 7% in January 2018 to 22% in June.
That increase demonstrates "a growing consumer demand for retailers to offer proven, scalable omnichannel technologies," Peter Sheldon, senior director of strategy for Adobe subsidiary Magento, said in a post on Adobe's corporate blog. Omnichannel refers to the integration of in-store and online shopping that lets customers shop where and how they want.
Sheldon said the pandemic "forced a major refocus on merchants' ability to offer seamless, contact-free experiences, like pickup across channels as digital commerce proliferated."
Walmart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon has said during the past year that the Bentonville-based retailer wanted to monetize its assets and capabilities to create new revenue streams.