Winner Sells All: Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets

Journalist Del Rey debuts with an impressive account of the rivalry between Amazon and Walmart, digging into the decisions that enabled Amazon to give the “big bad bully of retail” a run for its money. Drawing on interviews “with current and former executives, employees, and industry insiders,” Del Rey chronicles how Amazon’s tech savvy and rapid growth led it to become “Walmart 2.0, for better and worse.” Amazon, he notes, started as an online book retailer in 1995 and began selling other products in 1998, after it poached top executives from Walmart. Del Rey describes Walmart as slow to respond and stuck in the past, with CEO David Glass predicting in the late ’90s that “Walmart’s online store would never register more sales than the largest single Sam’s Club brick-and-mortar location.” The author illuminates the legal loopholes that gave Amazon an early advantage (it didn’t have to pay sales tax in states where the company had no physical presence), as well as how the bickering between Walmart’s store and e-commerce executives hampered the retailer’s growth in the online market. 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. (June)