Walmart plays catch-up with Amazon

New York

WHEN Wal-Mart announced recently that it was significantly increasing its investment in e-commerce, it tacitly acknowledged that it had fallen far behind Amazon in the race for online customers.

Walmart first said it would make e-commerce a priority at the dawn of Internet retailing in 1999. Back then, Walmart was a disrupter in its own right, rapidly expanding its big-box concept around the country and driving mom-and-pop stores out of business.