Pandemic spurs Walmart, Home Depot sales

NEW YORK — Americans turned to Walmart and Home Depot for supplies and do-it-yourself projects as they stayed close to home at a time when new cases of virus surged, resulting in soaring sales for their fiscal second quarter.

Walmart’s online sales nearly doubled in the fiscal second quarter, helped by an expansion of its online delivery services. Sales at U.S. locations opened at least a year jumped 9.3%, the company reported Tuesday.

With customers not going out to eat as much, they’re cooking at home, spurring sales of groceries. They’re also buying items to set up their home office or improve their outdoor area, store executives said.

Home Depot, the nation’s largest home improvement chain, reported Tuesday a 23.4% increase in sales at stores opened at least a year globally, helped by a frenzied pace of do-it-yourself projects. That’s almost twice the 12.2% increase that industry analysts had projected.

However, department store chain Kohl’s reported an adjusted loss smaller than expected and revenue fell 23% during the fiscal second quarter. The results came as Kohl’s worked to reopen its 1,100 stores after temporarily closing them all during the start of the pandemic.

“Some parts of retailing are thriving; some parts are being devastated,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData

Retail. “It’s demonstrating a dramatic shift of how and where shoppers are spending their money. People’s lives are revolving around the home. That means food, home improvement and comfortable clothes.”

Consumers had already begun to rely on Walmart, Home Depot and other essential retailers like Target and Amazon as lifelines for necessities during the start of the pandemic.

Home Depot and Walmart are setting a high bar for the rest of the retailers and are among the few bright spots in an industry mostly battered by the financial fallout of the pandemic.

Target, Lowe’s, TJX Cos. and L Brands Inc. — the parent company of Victoria’s Secret — are slated to report their earnings Wednesday.