Industry recovery? Walmart's e-commerce revenue surged 27% in the first quarter

When the epidemic was at its worst in the past two years, Walmart's e-commerce business achieved rapid development, but the growth rate has gradually declined in the past two years. But according to the latest data released by Walmart, its e-commerce sales in the first quarter seem to have returned to the rapid growth channel.

According to the financial report data released by Walmart, Walmart's e-commerce sales in the United States increased by 27% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year. This is the highest growth rate since the first quarter of 2021, when its e-commerce sales soared by 37% due to the epidemic.

In recent times, Walmart has been increasing its investment in its e-commerce business, including redesigning its app and website, launching preferential policies to attract more sellers, and promoting its platform's membership program Walmart+.

Walmart's U.S. e-commerce sales soared in 2020, when consumers were forced to stay at home due to the epidemic. In the second quarter of 2020, Walmart's e-commerce sales increased by 97% year-on-year.

But over the next few years, Walmart's e-commerce sales growth began to slow as consumers began to return to physical stores.

However, Walmart has not given up its e-commerce business. In a earnings conference call on Thursday, the company's management said it needed to further increase investment in e-commerce business, especially in logistics and distribution.

"We have more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and 90% of Americans live near a Walmart store. So we want to take advantage of that to make pickup and delivery more convenient and faster."

In addition, Walmart's advertising business unit, Walmart Connect, also performed well in the first quarter, with revenue increasing 40% year-on-year.

Walmart said it expects consolidated net sales to increase by about 4% and operating income to decrease by about 2% in the second quarter. For the full year, consolidated net sales are expected to increase by about 3.5% and operating income is expected to increase by about 4% to 4.5%.

Walmart

USA

E-commerce