Greg Foran was exasperated. He was seated in a conference room inside Walmart’s Bentonville, Arkansas, home office on what must have felt like the millionth conference call with the retailer’s supposed e-commerce saviour, Marc Lore.

Foran was the CEO of Walmart’s entire US operation – namely, its 4700-plus stores – and he had been sceptical about the Jet.com acquisition from the start. He knew full well the history of turnover at the top of Walmart’s e-commerce organisation, as well as Lore’s penchant for focusing on sales growth over profits. And he understood the impact that Lore’s tactics might have on the overall Walmart US business he ran and the investments he could make in stores.