BUSINESS: Research + Stats Walmart Overtakes Apple as No. 3 Online Retailer in US By Staff Friday, November 16, 2018 2:14 PM In the world of retail, Walmart has proven to be a fierce competitor and innovator. Indeed, according to eMarketer’s latest retail projections, the big bricks-and-mortar retailer will overtake Apple to become the No. 3 ranked online retailer in the United States this year. The move up comes after marketer recently raised its projections for market-share for Walmart’s online business. According to eMarketer, (including the core Walmart business, and the company’s Sam’s Club and Jet.com site) will capture 4.0 percent of all online retail spending in the U.S. this year, or a total of $20.9 billion. (With the upward revision, Walmart moved ahead of Apple, which will capture an estimated 3.9 percent share this year.) In its July forecast, eMarketer estimated that Walmart would capture a 3.7 percent share of the e-commerce market in 2018. At No. 1 in the eMarketer rankings is Amazon, with an estimated 40 percent share of U.S. online sales, followed by eBay, with an estimated 7.2 percent market share. “Walmart’s ecommerce business has been firing on all cylinders lately,” said eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman. “The retail giant continues to make smart acquisitions to extend its ecommerce portfolio and attract younger and more affluent shoppers. But more than anything, Walmart has caught its stride with a fast-growing online grocery business, which is helped in large part by the massive consumer adoption of click-and-collect.” According to eMarketer, Walmart has one of the fastest-growing online sales businesses, with forecasted growth of 39.4 percent this year. Wayfair tops Walmart with its slightly higher growth of 40.1 percent, according to eMarketer.