Los Angeles-based Kronos Advanced Technologies says it has been approved by Walmart Inc. as an online supplier at Walmart.com. The company’s air purifiers and other products soon will be available on Walmart.com.
Walmart expanded its e-commerce marketplace and joined forces with Shopify, an all-in-one commerce platform used by more than one million businesses, to open up the Walmart Marketplace to selective sellers. Kronos has been using Shopify as an online sales platform and so integrating Walmart.com into its Shopify platform will be a streamlined process.
“The U.S. e-commerce business grew 74 percent in total last quarter, and growth in marketplace outpaced the overall business even as first-party sales were strong,” a Walmart press released stated June 15. “As we launch this integration with Shopify, we are focused on U.S.-based small and medium businesses whose assortment complements ours and have a track record of exceeding customers’ expectations. We’re excited to be able to offer customers an expanded assortment while also giving small businesses access to the surging traffic on Walmart.com. Shopify powers a dynamic portfolio of third-party sellers who are interested in growing their business through new, trusted channels. This integration will allow approved Shopify sellers to seamlessly list their items on Walmart.com, which gives Walmart customers access to a broader assortment.”
Each week, nearly 265 million customers and members visit approximately 11,500 stores under 56 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites. Walmart’s online business grew tremendously last quarter with the surge in online shopping resulting from stay-at-home orders across the country. Walmart said that third-party sales grew faster than its own sales.
According to Bloomberg, the world’s largest retailer aims to add 1,200 Shopify sellers this year. Walmart executive Jeff Clementz said in an interview that Walmart’s marketplace site, which already offers more than 75 million products, grew at a faster pace than its overall web business in the first quarter. Third-party sales are typically more profitable as the sellers pay a fee when a sale is made and often shoulder the delivery costs.
“In order to ramp up sales, Kronos has ordered increased levels of inventory for all of our product lines. The estimated retail value of our inventory is approaching [$1 million],” said Kronos President Michael Rubinov. “When any company can increase their online outreach that is considered great news; however, we are very proud to become an approved supplier via Walmart.com, which is a giant milestone for our company’s future revenue growth.”
Kronos Advanced Technologies Inc. began operations in 2002 as a product development company which invented and significantly changed the way air is moved, filtered and sterilized. Historically, Kronos has focused on developing, marketing and selling its proprietary air movement and purification technology. Serving the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) market, Kronos technology uses state-of-the-art high voltage processes without the use of traditional HEPA filters. Kronos-based products move air silently, filter and purify the air while dramatically reducing energy consumption to half of a 60-watt light bulb.
Kronos devices can be variable in shape or size, and, therefore, have the potential to be scaled-down for air purification in cars or scaled up in size for industrial and hazardous gas destruction. The technology is currently being implemented in standalone products to move and filter air replacing HEPA and other filtration systems. There are broad ranges of additional markets for standalone and embedded Kronos CORE technology-based devices. Examples of immediately addressable markets include healthcare facilities, operating rooms, manufacturing clean rooms and cabins of automobiles and commercial aircraft.
Recently Kronos filed for a provisional patent involving an innovative protective face mask with antimicrobial and anti-cellphone radiation protection features and is planning to file additional patents to improve its existing technology as well as enter into new market segments but will continue to market air purifiers and other consumer products.
