According to CSA, Walmart showed its muscle in the first quarter, reporting a big jump in online sales, an increase in traffic at its U.S. stores, and earnings that beat the Street.
The chain’s U.S. same-store sales grew for the 11th consecutive quarter, rising 1.4% in the period ended April 30, just beating analysts’ estimates. Online sales surged 63%, compared to 29% growth in the last quarter. Total revenue increased 1.4%, to $117.54 billion, slightly short of the $117.74 billion forecast by analysts, mostly due to the impact of a stronger dollar overseas.
“Walmart’s e-commerce business is in the ascendancy,” added Saunders. “Positive changes to free shipping requirements and the addition of millions of more products to the online store have both resulted in steady uplifts in customer numbers. We are particularly pleased that Walmart is using discounting to encourage online shoppers to use more economical store pickup rather than delivery. We see the effective use of its real estate assets as one of Walmart’s major strengths over Amazon.”
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