(Online grocery remains an emphasis for Walmart. Photo courtesy Walmart)
Walmart reported $130.4 billion in revenue for the second quarter of its fiscal year, up 1.8% from the same time in 2018.
Walmart U.S. saw comparable store sales grow 2.8% for the quarter. Last year, the growth for the same time period was 4.5%. The two-year total — 7.3% — is the highest in more than a decade, according to the company’s earnings release.
Operating income for the segment was up 4%. In the management summary of the report, executive vice president and chief financial officer Brett Biggs said that growth was driven by strong results from physical stores.
E-commerce sales grew 37%, with online grocery a key contributor, per the release. Walmart now has more than 2,700 stores offering free grocery pickup and more than 1,100 stores offering same-day grocery delivery. The goal is to have 3,100 stores with grocery pickup and 1,600 stores with same-day grocery delivery by the end of the year.
“Customers appreciate our focus on saving them time and money, and they’re increasingly choosing Walmart for their shopping destination, evidenced by both our transaction growth and market share gains across grocery and general merchandise, according to data from Nielsen and the NPD Group,” Biggs said in the management summary. “We’re reducing friction in our customers’ shopping experience through innovation and new service offerings. The core tenets of our strategy remain unchanged, but we continue to evolve and adapt to the fast-changing retail landscape, discover new opportunities and learn from our experiences.
“The U.S. supercenter is a clear competitive advantage, and we’re finding new ways to leverage that important asset,” Biggs said. “We’re also operating more efficiently and removing costs in ways that benefit shareholders while serving customers. We’ll continue to leverage our scale, unique assets and financial strength to position the company competitively while driving profitability and creating shareholder value.”
Walmart updated its guidance for the year in several areas, including adjusting its comparable store sales growth expectation from 2.5% to 3% to the upper end of that range.
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