Wal-Mart Poaching Talent From eBay To Develop Online E-commerce Platform

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is shopping at eBay Inc., hiring away at least 65 technology professionals recently as it buys the talent needed to compete in e-commerce.

Locked in digital battle with Amazon.com and its massive cloud computing infrastructure, Wal-Mart is looking for help in open source software, data analytics, search and cloud, among other key areas.

In the last two years alone, at least 49 such experts have left eBay for Wal-Mart, according to research by CIO Journal.

The online marketplace is a rich hunting ground, stocked with the kind of experienced e-commerce and open source experts who Wal-Mart seeks since establishing a Silicon Valley office in 2010 in San Bruno, Calif.

Last year, Wal-Mart opened another office in nearby Sunnyvale, Calif., where eBay headquarters is located.

eBay employees may be more willing to jump lately. The company laid off 2,400 people in January and plans to sell its PayPal online payments unit next quarter.

Last week, eBay sold its 28.4% stake in Craigslist Inc. and is looking for a buyer for the eBay Enterprise group, which builds and sells e-commerce technology.

“People see the writing on the wall and an opportunity with Wal-Mart looks pretty good,” said Greg Buzek, principal at IHL Group, a retail technology consultancy.

A Wal-Mart spokesman denied that its new hires in the past two years skew toward one company.

The company declined to provide details. “We do not base our hiring strategy on one company,” the spokesman said in an e-mail. EBay declined to make an executive available for an interview.

eBay technologists have a reputation for innovation, Mr. Buzek said, pointing to last year’s launch of the “Magic Mirror,” which lets shoppers in stores see product images and check inventory by interacting with a mirror.

eBay also has deep expertise in open source technology applied to online logistics and infrastructure, he said, which Wal-Mart needs to compete with Amazon. “The world’s biggest retailer is going up against the dominant online retailer,” he said. “Wal-Mart can’t be on Amazon’s cloud.”

Wal-Mart has hired for a range of skills and experience levels, including Tim Kimmet, vice president of platform and systems for global e-commerce, who had spent 10 years at eBay and PayPal.

Prized skills among a sampling of those who have left eBay for Wal-Mart include analytics, Agile development, search and Hadoop and other open source software experience.

The retail giant says it’s one of the largest enterprise users of OpenStack, an open source platform that helps companies build and manage cloud computing and storage projects.

Wal-Mart has taken at least 314 collective years of e-commerce technology experience from eBay.

In a move Mr. Buzek calls “so smart,” Wal-Mart has also hired at least six human resources staffers from eBay. “They know who the stars are,” he said. “It’s like having inside information of the labor pool.”

Source: WSJ/CIO Report

Image: Ecommerce Rules

Related: Walmart’s Supply Chain Connecting Customers with E-Commerce Orders