Wal-Mart E-Commerce Sales Increase 63%

Wal-Mart announced yesterday that its e-commerce sales grew by 63 percent during the latest quarter, compared to 29 percent growth last quarter. The majority of this growth was organically through Walmart.com, the company said. Wal-Mart's U.S. sales increased 1.4 percent, while net income fell to $3.04 billion from $3.08 billion, due to an increase in the tax rate, the company said. “We delivered a sold first quarter and we’re encouraged by the start to the year," said Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart, in a statement. “We’re moving faster to combine our digital and physical assets to make shopping simple and easy for customers.”

Total Retail’s Take: Clearly, the strategy Wal-Mart has created to expand and improve its e-commerce platform amidst its online battle with Amazon.com and Target is working. Wal-Mart's recent acquisition of Jet.com, for example, its competitive free shipping threshold of $35, and its overall lower prices have allowed the traditional brick-and-mortar retailer to make gains online. Other improvements include upgrading its online marketplace (Walmart.com now sells 50 million first- and third-party items, up from 10 million a year ago); improvements to its shopping and payment apps that have pushed customers to come into stores by offering them incentives such as line-busting privileges; and offering discounts for orders placed online but picked up in-store, which saves shipping costs. In addition to Jet.com, Walmart also recently bought e-commerce companies ModCloth, ShoeBuy, and Moosejaw in an effort to speed up innovation within its digital business.