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RetailE-commerce

Walmart CEO promises more e-commerce acquisitions

By
Tom Huddleston Jr.
Tom Huddleston Jr.
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By
Tom Huddleston Jr.
Tom Huddleston Jr.
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May 28, 2014, 7:05 PM ET

FORTUNE — Doug McMillon has only been CEO at Wal-Mart (WMT) since February, but he already has his sights trained on digital rivals like Amazon.

McMillon told a crowd at the Code Conference near Los Angeles on Wednesday that Wal-Mart’s “pace of acquisitions . . . is going to accelerate” in an effort to better compete in the e-commerce market, according to Bloomberg. Wal-Mart’s online sales jumped 30% in the fiscal year ending January 31 to $10 billion, but the company still lags far behind Amazon (AMZN) in that category. (Wal-Mart also said last week that its e-commerce unit will hire hundreds of new tech workers in the unit’s Sunnyvale, Calif. offices.)

Wal-Mart has already been fairly active in acquiring web companies through its research division @WalmartLabs, which has made a dozen small acquisitions over the past few years. Earlier this month, the company bought Adchemy, an advertising technology company for online retailers, for an undisclosed amount.

MORE: Target pins e-commerce hopes on tech dream team

McMillon also reportedly expressed some interest in buying a 3-D printing company at some point. Such a deal would be palatable “in some cases,” as the company could use the printers to make replacement part for certain products while customers could print other products right in the store.

Wearable technology and connected home products could also prove to be attractive categories for the retail giant in the future, the CEO said.

About the Author
By Tom Huddleston Jr.
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