I've made the point with retailers ranging from Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF ) to Target to Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE: BBY ) that e-commerce hurts margins. Backed by multiple buys in the e-commerce space, including the $3 billion acquisition of Jet.com, suddenly it looked like Walmart was a legitimate competitor to Amazon . 2.1% is a good number in context: many retailers are posting negative comps and deflation has led large grocers like Kroger Co (NYSE: KR ) to put up anemic same-store sales.