Both Amazon and WalMart are really logistics companies, not retailers

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An interesting article in Forbes argues that Amazon, WalMart and Inditex are unique in retailing – because logistics is at the core of their business. All three have made distribution the central point of their model, which gives them a competitive advantage over more retail-focused rivals, for whom logistics is but a (rather unpleasant) side effect. From Amazon’s focus on efficiency, to Wal-Mart’s real-time sales tracking and Inditex’s ability to respond quickly to market trends, they have all broken the ...