Coronavirus drives Walmart grocery app downloads to surpass Amazon
Walmart Grocery outperformed Amazon by 20% on Sunday
Former Toys ‘R’ Us CEO Gerald Storch on retail winners and losers of the coronavirus and what it will take to get consumers back into restaurants and stores.
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The Walmart Grocery app took the top spot among downloaded shopping apps earlier this week, beating out Amazon, a recent report found.
On Tuesday, analytics firm App Annie reported that mobile shopping apps overall have seen “significant growth” recently because of shelter-in-place orders to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Last week, there were 14.4 million shopping app downloads in the U.S. and 106 million downloads globally, the firm reported.
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On April 5, one specific winner was Walmart Grocery, when the app outperformed Amazon by 20 percent on both Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Walmart Grocery retained the top spot for shopping apps until Tuesday, according to App Annie.
Walmart had previously announced that it would combine its regular app with its grocery-specific app and then deactivate its grocery app this summer. (Walmart)
“This growth from Walmart Grocery shows that mobile is a key component to its brick-and-mortar and digital strategy for addressing accelerated consumer demands in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic,” App Annie reported.
The firm also reported that Walmart’s app for employees, Me@Walmart saw an increase in time spent on the app.
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In early March, Walmart announced it would be combining its regular app with its grocery app and that it would deactivate the grocery-specific app this summer.
The new app will make it so that customers can buy groceries and other items for pickup or delivery in one place.
“The updated Walmart app is rolling out in phases, so some customers get to enjoy the new experience now,” the announcement said at the time.
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However, it is unclear if Walmart’s plans will change now that its grocery app has seen such an increase in downloads.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMT | WALMART INC. | 82.43 | +0.24 | +0.29% |
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 195.78 | -2.15 | -1.09% |
A spokesperson for the retail giant told TechCrunch that it still plans to merge the apps.
Walmart did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.