SANTIAGO – Walmart has reached an agreement to acquire Cornershop, a leading online on-demand marketplace in Mexico and Chile, the world’s leading retailer said in a statement on Thursday.
The deal, worth $225 million, “is an important step forward in accelerating the company’s omni-channel capabilities and growth in Latin America”, Walmart said.
It adds to Walmart’s recent investment e-commerce – including Dada-JD Daojia in China, Rakuten in Japan, and Jet.com in the U.S.
¡Walmart Internacional vive la transformación más importante en su historia! Conoce los principales hitos de nuestro e-commerce. ??? #BienvenidoCornershop #Lider pic.twitter.com/Xc5zLZlM3R
— Walmart Chile (@Walmart__Chile) September 14, 2018
Based in San Francisco, Cornershop enables on-demand deliveries from supermarkets, pharmacies and speciality food retailers that claims to be able to fulfil customers’ orders in one hour.
It is “rapidly building scale”, Walmart said, with the number of unique users double in the past 12 months.
Founded in 2015, Cornershop last year raised $21 million in a round led by Accel, according to Crunchbase, in order to expand its service in Latin America.
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Walmart president and CEO Judith McKenna said: “We are focused on making life easier for customers and associates by building strong local businesses, powered by Walmart. Cornershop’s digital expertise, technology and capabilities will strengthen our successful businesses in Mexico and Chile and provide learning for other markets in which we operate.
“This is an opportunity to leverage both of our brands, as well as Walmart’s strong supply chain and store network. Combining Cornershop’s innovative, crowdsourced delivery platform with Walmart’s unique assets will allow us to accelerate growth for both companies, delighting our customers by saving them both time and money. We are excited to welcome Cornershop to the Walmart family.”
Cornershop works with contractors who visit the stores to shop then deliver customers’ orders. However, it also lets you order from several stores – like grocers, speciality wine or meat shops, and others – in one order.
Cornershop’s three founders, including CEO Oskar Hjertonsson; COO Daniel Undurraga, and CTO Juan Pablo Cuevas, and their teams, will continue to run the business following Walmart’s acquisition.
Walmart’s top rival Amazon has also been focused on international expansions of its grocery delivery business, with launches in markets like London, Berlin and Tokyo. It’s also aiming to bring its online shop to more countries through international versions of its site, as well as acquisitions of its own. Last year, Amazon bought SOUQ to go after the Middle East, and today it says SOUQ shoppers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can now shop over 1 million products from Amazon’s Global Store.
Walmart says the Cornershop acquisition will be subject to regulatory approval and is expected by the end of the year.
