Crisis powers Walmart’s online sales up 74%
NEW YORK — Walmart became one of the few lifelines to millions of people as the coronavirus spread, leading to surging profit and sales during the fiscal first quarter.
Online sales in the U.S. jumped 74% for the quarter ended April 30, which captured the brunt of the pandemic. Same-store sales rose 10% at U.S. Walmart stores on strong sales of food, health and wellness goods.
At a time when a huge swath of stores that sell non-essential merchandise temporarily shut down, the nation’s largest retailer had the natural advantage of carrying the items that consumers needed during the pandemic.
But unlike its online rivals like Amazon, Walmart enjoys an extensive network of nearly 5,000 physical stores and a variety of delivery and pick-up options that it ramped up to meet crushing demand for essential items from paper towels to canned food.
Walmart’s reputation for low prices also helped as the unemployment rate has spiraled to the high level since the Great Depression.
“Having a wide range of fulfillment options, including delivery to home, collection from store — and by using stores for fulfillment — allowed Walmart to ramp up capacity in a way that many other players struggled to do,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. “We also believe that by using stores effectively, Walmart mitigated some of the higher costs channel.”
Walmart shoppers did not limit their purchases to essential items, using federal stimulus checks to buy clothing, TVs and video games, which helped boost sales in April. Walmart also said it’s seeing gains in new customers from across all income brackets.
At the same time, the company had trouble keeping its shelves stocked and its inventory fell 6.1%. Costs soared as well, to $900 million — all of it related to the pandemic. Cash bonuses were issued to all hourly workers and Walmart upped pay by $2 per hour at its warehouses. It rolled out an emergency leave policy and spent money on shields at checkout lines. Still, it reported a higher operating profit.
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