Walmart has confirmed it is to purchase online marketplace jet.com in a $3.3bn acquisition.

Some have suggested the moves comes as the retail giant aims to eat into some of Amazon’s marketshare, with Walmart paying the hefty price tag over a staggered duration.

Looking to attract higher-income consumers, the acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2016.

Speaking during a conference call with Wall Street Analysts, Doug McMillon, president and chief executive officer of Walmart, said, “I think we’ve got some cool ideas on how the two brands can work over time.
“Marc [Lore, Jet’s ceo and cofounder] has focused Jet.com [on] higher income shoppers than the mean of walmart.com consumers. That’s not to say that we don’t have a lot of Millennials, but Jet has been able to attract brands we don’t have at walmart.com.…We’ll keep the spirit of the brands independent and leverage some things on the back-end. The essence of brands will continue to be different over time.”

McMillion also made it clear that Lore would continue to run both Jet.com and Walmart site following the purchase, spelling the departure of current President and CEO of eCommerce and global technology, Neil Ashe.

He stated Lore’s role would have difference to what Ashe has undertaken, “It will be more focused on U.S. e-commerce, and that feels like the right decision for us to make at this time.”