Photo: Moosejaw/Facebook
Walmart announced yesterday that it had acquired Moosejaw, “The Most Fun Outdoor Retailer on the Planet according to our moms,” for $51 million.
The purchase continues a string of recent deals put together by Walmart that has included the acquisition of Jet.com and ShoeBuy.com. Moosejaw, number 261 on Internet Retailer’s top 500, has a significant e-commerce business in addition to operating 10 stores.
Walmart has said that it plans to continue allowing Moosejaw, based in Madison Heights, MI, to operate independently. As to what it expects to gain from its newest business, Walmart has said Moosejaw will provide further access in apparel and accessories, the top selling category in digital commerce.
The acquisition will also open Walmart to relationships with top-notch suppliers that it has not done business with in the past. Establishing those relationships will enable vendors to sell on Walmart’s other e-commerce sites.
Moosejaw also has a distinct branding story that it has taken to social media to grow the business. Walmart expects to learn from how Moosejaw’s team creates content to enhance the customer experience.
For its part, Moosejaw expects to benefit from Walmart’s resources to not only expand its business but reduce operating costs.
“There’s going to be a lot of integration on the backend,” Ravi Jariwala, a spokesperson for Walmart, told TechCrunch. “Things like taking advantage of the bigger scale and leveraging those costs for things like shipping rates, credit card fees, and transaction processing fees.”
While both Moosejaw and Walmart can talk to the benefits of the deal, not all of the outdoor retailer’s largely Millennial customer base is convinced. Most of the posts on the company’s Facebook page were critical of the deal, including this one: “I want to still love you…and let’s be serious, I probably still will because this love runs deep. But really? Walmart? I understand you have your reasons, I know the outdoor retail market is struggling….but I am SO disappointed by this news.”