Walmart.com's march to catch Amazon in e-commerce and integrate online and offline offerings is entering some new fronts and generating sometimes surprising results as the company prepares to launch the latest in a spate of new initiatives -- Goodies, a subscription mail-order-sampling program.

Goodies, set to roll out within about a month, will initially focus on artisan and other food products but could expand to other product categories, said Neil Ashe, CEO of global e-commerce for Walmart, in a press briefing in Rogers, Ark. ...