Sam’s Club gets into the online travel business with Expedia

A web presence allows retailers to easily sell almost anything they want—even in areas where they have little or no expertise. Travel, for instance. Sam`s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., No. 12 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, has hired online travel arrangements company Expedia.com to deliver travel bookings for Sam`s Club.

“Sam`s Club wins by deepening our ability to meet our members’ needs and Expedia benefits by expanding its customer base,” says Philip Malcolm, vice president of membership card and services strategy, Sam`s Club. Sam’s Club, a retail selling operation, has more than 47 million members.

In addition to its consumer-oriented Expedia.com, Expedia Inc. provides wholesale travel to offline retail travel agents. Its brands include Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire(R), Expedia Corporate Travel, TripAdvisor and Classic Vacations. It has sites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Japan and China.

Walmart.com vice president of category marketing Brian Osborn will speak at Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, June 4-7 in San Jose, on June 5 in a session entitled Wal-Mart: The Giant Uses the Web to Extend its Market Reach.