In the never-ending race to be the United States’ largest retailer, Amazon is on Walmart’s heels and about to overtake its competitor.

That, at least, is what analysts from JPMorgan Chase predicted in a recent research note. Researchers from the multinational bank/financial services firm said Amazon could outpace Walmart and become the largest U.S. retailer as soon as 2022. 

Jeff Bezos, founder, Amazon

“The dramatic growth of e-commerce over the past 18 months has accelerated Amazon’s rise to dominance, and even the largest traditional retailer may soon fall behind,” the JPMorgan analysts told FX Empire in a statement. 

Amazon captured 39% of U.S. e-commerce sales in 2020, an increase over the prior year. JPMorgan analysts shared that the COVID-19 pandemic “pulled forward three years of e-commerce growth” and Amazon capitalized.

A Seattle-headquartered multinational technology company that specializes in everything from e-commerce and cloud computing to artificial intelligence, Amazon increased its total first quarter 2021 revenue by 44% year over year to $108.5 billion.

Net income increased to $8.1 billion in Q1 2021, or $15.79 per diluted share. That compared with net income of $2.5 billion, or $5.01 per diluted share, in the first quarter 2020.

Promotional products firms sell on Amazon’s e-commerce marketplace. Amazon also offers promo-related services like Merch by Amazon, which lets independent designers sell personalized T-shirts and other items, with Amazon handling production, shipping and collection. In 2020, Amazon expanded its print-on-demand offerings.

Walmart sells promotional products directly through a partnership with promo distributor Harland Clarke (asi/219943). The Texas-based company operates Walmart PromoShop, where a wide array of promotional products are for sale.