After Amazon’s announcement regarding the possible acquisition of Whole Foods, another retailing giant, Walmart, revealed that they’ve reached an agreement to buy men’s online clothing line Bonobos, in a deal estimated at $319 million, in an attempt to actually mirror Amazon, says Forbes, citing a report from The New York Times.
However, the news wasn’t received very well by Bonobos’ fans, who reacted negatively to the Facebook post through which the announcement was made, using reactions like anger, shock and sadness, which outnumbered the likes by a factor of 2 to 1.
The brand will remain the same, despite all the criticism
“We understand this news might come as a surprise, but know that everything that makes Bonobos the brand that it is will stay the same,” the company responded quickly. “We believe that with Walmart’s scale, we’ll be able to create efficiencies and an evolved shopping experience that benefits you, our customers,” they also added.
Basically, Bonobos, a brand that is – or at least was – appreciated mostly by millennials, was bought by a brand that is considered unethical destructive and cheap. Exactly the opposite, that is! Therefore, the voice of the customer, which contributed a lot to Bonobos’ initial success, was alienated.
Founder Andy Dunn responded to all these reactions with a post on Medium.com, talking about his background, how he started the company and his admiration for Marc Lore, who is now in charge with Walmart’s e-commerce department. The reactions weren’t as aggressive as on the original Facebook post, but still, fans showed everything else but appreciation.
Bad timing, guys!
After the announcement of the acquirement was made, Walmart stock plunged 4.6%, reaching 75.26. However, they chose a wrong time for letting everybody know about this, since, during the same day, Amazon also announced the acquisition of Whole Foods, with their shares rising 2.4% to 987.71.
