Walmart Takes Amazon Battle to the Cloud

Walmart is reportedly pressuring partners not to use Amazon's cloud services if they want to do business with the mass merchant.According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Walmart has told some tech companies that they can't run applications for the retailer on leading cloud and web services provider Amazon Web Services. In some instances, the mass merchant wants to keep its data on its own servers or use services from Amazon's competitors, such as Microsoft.Walmart did not specify which apps or how many it takes issue with, giving the same statement to various news outlets: "Our vendors have the choice of using any cloud provider that meets their needs and their customers' needs. It shouldn’t be a big surprise that there are cases in which we'd prefer our most sensitive data isn't sitting on a competitor's platform."The skirmish isn't a new one, according to reports, but has resurfaced following news of Amazon's intention to purchase Whole Foods Market. Walmart and Amazon are increasingly flexing their muscles in each other's backyards, both through headline acquisitions as well as on a promotional level.Other retailers also are requesting that service providers move away from AWS, according to the WSJ report. Meanwhile some competitors, such as GameStop, still use the platform.AWS posted $3.1 billion in operating income for 2016, nearly $1 billion more than the $2.4 billion in profit it made from North American retail sales despite that business making nearly eight times more in revenue. AWS gives Amazon deep pockets for experimenting and innovating — as well as keeping prices low.Amazon maintains that its cloud and retail businesses are kept separate, and a spokesperson told the WSJ that Walmart's move is an attempt to "bully" vendors.

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