It's not innocuous as it might seem but neither as competent as some might fear

Walmart's announcement that they are opening up their e-commerce platform to third party retailers with Walmart Marketplace seems a logical move, just given their ginormous operational capabilities. They'll likely not compete with Amazon in the cloud computing game any time soon (they're too much an old school brick and mortar outfit for that. But Retail as a Service (or the more general Process as a Service as some are calling it) is perhaps a much more lucrative biz and the old boys in Arkansas (or at least the young turks who have the old boys ear) are coming to understand this.

It's kind of scary but should be interesting to watch.

I guess I'm not as nervous as perhaps I should be simply because I'm guessing they have enough folks in the big seats in the executive bathrooms who are clueless when it comes to a business/technology marriage. And, more importantly, another group in the slightly smaller stalls with the slight less puffy TP who have just enough of a clue that they'll stumble around a good while before acquiring solid footing in this brave new world.