Walmart Just Got a Lot More Chichi

A $1,699 De'Longhi espresso machine isn't the first thing most people associate with Walmart, and that's exactly the point. The retailer is quietly reshaping its home aisle—think ocher velvet chairs, pastel air crockpots, and higher-end appliances—as it tries to pull in wealthier shoppers and close a widening gap with Amazon, reports the Wall Street Journal. While Walmart still dominates in groceries, margins there are thin, and Amazon has raced ahead online, grabbing 20% of the US furniture and home-furnishings market by last fall, more than double its 2019 share. Walmart's slice slid to 7%, down from 9.3%.

Walmart's strategy: "democratize style," with more design-forward products at still-accessible prices, from Drew Barrymore's hit Beautiful line—whose sage-green air fryer sold out in a day—to revamped in-house brands like Mainstays and Better Homes & Gardens. Some bets have fizzled—for example, a Gap home partnership has ended—but Walmart is steadily adding more premium labels as it chases shoppers who once saw it as too down-market. The Motley Fool looks at Walmart and Amazon from a portfolio POV, finding that there's one "clear winner": Amazon. Business Insider, meanwhile, looks at their neck and neck race.