ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Walmart’s fourth-quarter results include a 17% year-over-year increase in e-commerce sales. Amazon’s overall online sales dipped slightly in the same time period.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “Price-sensitive shoppers’ migration to Walmart’s stores and website has clearly helped the company grow its other Amazon-like lines of business. The retailer said its global advertising business gained nearly 30% to $2.7 billion in its last fiscal year. … Meanwhile, Walmart+ membership increased to 12 million in the last quarter, up 4% from the preceding quarter, according to estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.”
Walmart said that its 2022 e-commerce highlights included:
- Putting over 1,000 electric InHome delivery vans on the road.
- Delivering 2,250,000 packages to InHome members and customers via InHome associates
- Having more than 3,500 stores, in all 50 states, offering W+ return pickup from home
- Adding more than 8,000 sellers to Walmart Marketplace in Q3 FY22.
- Having 370,000,000 SKUs on Walmart Marketplace as of the third quarter—a 50% increase from Q2.
In traditional retail, Walmart delivered an 8.3% rise in comparable-store sales year over year.
In January, Walmart launched Walmart Business, in direct competition to Amazon. The e-commerce site caters to the shopping needs of small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as nonprofits. The site offers 100,000 products, including office supplies and furniture, food and beverage, and items for restrooms, classrooms and facility needs.
In January, Walmart also announced that it was raising its starting wage to at least $14 an hour, increasing the company’s average hourly wage to over $17.50.