Twelfth straight growth quarter for Walmart

American supermarket chain Walmart has surpassed analysts’ expectations for the previous quarter, the company’s twelfth straight growth quarter. The world’s largest supermarket chain especially benefited from a strong online growth.

Major online surge

Over the past quarter, Walmart reached a 123.36 billion dollar turnover, some 105 billion euro. Compared to the year before, it added 2.5 billion dollars, up 2.1 %. The United States is still its most important market with a 78.74 billion dollars (67 billion euro) turnover, a 1.8 % like-for-like turnover increase. Its turnover elsewhere did drop 1 % to 28.33 billion dollars (about 24 billion euro). Its third branch, Sam’s Club, grew 2.3 % to 14.88 billion dollars (12 billion euro).

The quarter was its twelfth straight quarter with growth, which is an impressive performance – especially considering the competition (Walmart, which recently acquired store chain Whole Foods; discounters Aldi and Lidl) is also moving forward.

A remarkable fact is that Walmart’s online sales grew 67 % in the past quarter after an equally impressive 63 % growth in the first quarter. The company refrained from actual numbers, but CEO Doug McMillon did call the eCommerce division’s growth pace one of the past quarter’s “key highlights”. “We are moving faster and becoming more creative as we strive to make every day easier for busy families”, he added.