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Opinion
Tara Lachapelle

A Walmart-Home Depot Merger Makes Shiploads of Sense

The retail giants could combine their significant power to attack supply-chain problems.

The strategic rationale for a combination extends beyond shipping to branding and pricing.

The strategic rationale for a combination extends beyond shipping to branding and pricing.

Photographers: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg (Home Depot); Joe Raedle/Getty Images (Walmart)

Should Walmart Inc. merge with Home Depot Inc.? There may be a container ship worth of reasons for them to consider it.

Walmart and Home Depot are among U.S. retailers that have grown so frustrated with the limited space on container ships and rising cost of ocean shipping that they’ve begun chartering their own vessels to speed the journey from factories on one side of the world to consumers on the other. Costco Wholesale Corp. also resorted to this option recently rather than risk having key items out of stock heading into the holidays.