On Thursday, the company said e-commerce sales had grown 63 percent in the United States in the latest quarter.
Walmart said it now offers 50 million items through its website, up from 35 million in the last quarter and 10 million from the same time last year.
Walmart Reports 63% Rise in Online Sales -
By RACHEL ABRAMSMAY 18, 2017
Walmart has always excelled at selling products in its cavernous stores.
“This is extraordinary growth, and we’re pleased with the traction we’re generating across our e-commerce
offerings,” said Brett Biggs, Walmart’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Comparable-store sales, one measure of growth that looks at stores that have been open for at least a year, rose 1.4 percent.
The earnings results on Thursday gave only hints of about how much the acquisitions gave the company
a one-time bump in sales, rather than long-lasting fruit from other changes the company has made.
Walmart executives said that the “majority” of the company’s online growth was organic —
meaning not from the companies it had bought — but did not break out specific numbers.
Overall sales rose 1.4 percent, to $117.5 billion, in the latest quarter compared with a year ago.
Activity on Amazon, which recorded about $136 billion in annual sales last year,
accounts for more than half of all online shopping in the United States.