"...[An] engrossing account of the clash between these two giants. This is no bird’s-eye view: The author knows both companies well, and he is not afraid of plumbing the details of their attempts to meet their customers online. While retailing is his nominal topic, Mr. Del Rey’s real subject is the difficulty of driving change in a large organization. His book will fascinate anybody who is trying to run one.” — Wall Street Journal
“A revelatory account of the bloody rivalry between two ruthless retail juggernauts that are not accustomed to losing.” — Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store
“A once-scrappy entrepreneur named Jeff Bezos has taken control over what we buy and how it is sold to us, in ways that are both worrisome and impressive. Del Rey delivers the goods on how it all went down, juxtaposing Amazon’s stunning rise with the efforts of a once-dominant Walmart to keep up. It is said that when elephants fight, only the grass suffers. Guess what? We’re the grass.” — Kara Swisher, host of the Pivot and On podcasts, New York Media
“This book is a front-row seat to one of the most brutal, consequential corporate battles of our time—and it comes with a backstage pass, revealing dirt the companies don’t want us to see. A must-read for anyone interested in the future of commerce.” — Mark Bergen, author of Like, Comment, Subscribe
“An engaging and cinematic account of the Ali-Frazier of retail.” — Scott Galloway, NYU Stern School of Business professor of marketing and bestselling author of Adrift
“Winner Sells All is the definitive history of the clash between two business titans constantly reinventing themselves to crush the competition and fill our shopping carts. As Amazon and Walmart build and defend their dominance, Del Rey brings the reader into the complexities and trade-offs of their business decisions, revealing all that goes into the quest for customer loyalty—and all that is lost when two giants control so much of our economy.” — Sarah Frier, author of No Filter
“Walmart and Amazon are too often discussed separately, despite their overlapping impact on America and the world. Winner Sells All explores the biggest business story of the past twenty years, through the eyes of an unusually broad and deep network of sources.” — Christopher Mims, tech columnist for the Wall Street Journal and author of Arriving Today
"An eye-opening look at a battle of corporate titans that shows few signs of slowing down." — Kirkus Reviews
“Del Rey’s behind-the-scenes insights enlighten, and the author makes no bones about what the companies’ success has cost workers, criticizing both for keeping wages low while lavishly rewarding executives. This thorough outing delivers.” — Publishers Weekly
2023-04-11
Timely report on the ongoing clash between Walmart and Amazon for domination of the online marketplace.
When Amazon branched out from its initial bookselling business to become an online store for everything, it was bound to come up against the then-mightier Walmart empire. The trouble was, writes business journalist Del Rey, Walmart’s executives were “consumed by the massive revenue and profits associated with its Supercenters, and mostly ignorant to the threat and promise of the internet.” That uncomfortable position was antithetical to the operating premise of founder Sam Walton, who favored a decentralized system where local stores sold goods appropriate to the marketplace. On the other hand, Jeff Bezos’ growing empire had no practical constraints; it could sell everything, and its development of the Prime option of paying an annual fee for quick shipping outflanked anything Walmart could offer. Doug McMillon, a new Walmart CEO, turned some aspects of the business around to the extent that it was Amazon’s turn to play catch-up, including a grocery delivery service that Amazon abandoned only to start over by acquiring Whole Foods. In the end, both conglomerates fought each other in pricing wars that in the long term would have been unsustainable. Today, Del Rey writes, drastic cost-cutting is less common. While in one instance Amazon’s price for a 12-pack of diet soda was $10 more than Walmart’s, getting the latter would involve driving to the store, while the former would arrive at one’s door. Convenience versus price remains an issue, but regardless, the author concludes, surrendering the marketplace to a pair of mega-corporations doesn’t make for a healthy economy: “Outside forces—whether they be regulators, new startups, or labor groups—will still be necessary to apply pressure where the rivalry alone is not producing the best outcomes.”
An eye-opening look at a battle of corporate titans that shows few signs of slowing down.