Walmart Fields Acquisition Interest In JetBlack

Walmart has reportedly been getting outside interest in JetBlack, its texting-based shopping platform geared toward busy urban families.

Bloomberg is reporting that Walmart is currently weighing its options regarding the company, which came from the retail giant’s internal incubation division. The potential move could see JetBlack sold outright, partnered with another company or even spun off into something else.

JetBlack was started in 2017 by Marc Lore, who is Walmart’s U.S. eCommerce chief executive officer. The company promised to fulfill shopping requests from many different retailers, with free delivery and even gift wrapping, for a fee of $50 a month.

JetBlack customers spend about $1,500 per month, Walmart said. The orders aren’t cheap to fill, but Walmart said it has gathered a lot of useful data on people’s shopping preferences.

Lately, Walmart has been reorganizing its eCommerce properties in a bid to save money and bring them closer within the control of its money-making retail unit. Another offshoot, Jet.com, has been pulled closer to the parent company as well. ModCloth, a women’s fashion site that Walmart purchased in 2017, is going to be sold.

Jet.com Co-founder Nate Faust could potentially be a leader of JetBlack in the future.

Walmart also recently announced that it was going to stop selling eCigarettes. “Given the growing federal, state and local regulatory complexity and uncertainty regarding eCigarettes, we plan to discontinue the sale of electronic nicotine delivery products at all Walmart and Sam’s Club U.S. locations,” a company spokeswoman said. Last week, President Donald Trump revealed plans to outlaw all flavored eCigarettes due to the rise in youth vaping. Health officials have also been conducting probes into hundreds of lung problems linked to the use of eCigarettes.