Wal-Mart pushing hard to catch Amazon in e-commerce

Packages move along a conveyor belt inside a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fulfillment center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. acquired e-commerce startup Jet.com for $3.3 billion in cash and stock. Jet.com Founder and his management team were put in charge of Wal-Mart's entire domestic e-commerce operation, overseeing more than 15,000 employees in Silicon Valley, Boston, Omaha, and its home office in Arkansas. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

NEW YORK: Wal-Mart Stores, the 800-pound gorilla of retail, is running hard to catch up in an increasingly crucial segment where it is neither the biggest nor the best: e-commerce. 

The company, founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, has been gobbling up smaller and niche players in e-commerce in an effort to reach online shopping market leader Amazon.