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Walmart and Lord & Taylor announced a deal on Monday that will see the country’s oldest high-end department store begin to sell goods through Walmart.com.
The companies said that starting in the spring, Lord & Taylor will set up its own storefront on the site as Walmart begins to build out what it says will become “a premium fashion destination on Walmart.com.”
Perhaps more so than any recent retail partnership, this move highlights the enormous shake-up in the department-store world resulting in deals like this one that would have once seemed unfathomable.
On the surface, the two companies seem like the ultimate odd couple: Walmart, with its focus on value-conscious shoppers, and Lord & Taylor, which sells higher-end contemporary brands. But both are looking to reinvent themselves in a retail environment increasingly impacted by the rise of Amazon.
For Lord & Taylor, the company simply needs to attract new customers online as department store sales plateau. So it’s turning to a website with around 80 million visitors each month, no matter the optics.
At Walmart, the belief seems to be that the mass-market retailer can use its online reach — coupled with department-store struggles and an industry-wide fear of Amazon — to make a dent in the premium fashion world. In the last two years, Amazon has steadily introduced a wide assortment of in-house brands across men’s and women’s apparel.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on a potential alliance between the two sides and said Lord & Taylor goods will be available for pickup at Walmart stores. A Walmart spokesperson declined to comment beyond today’s announcement.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
