Walmart US Q3 Sales Up on COVID-19 as Retail Digital Switch to Persist

With COVID-19 accelerating a retail shift to online and digital, Walmart had a 79% spike in e-commerce net sales growth in Q3, said CEO Doug McMillon in a Q3 Tuesday call. “We’re convinced that most of the behavior change will persist beyond the pandemic.” McMillon cited the retailer’s omnichannel retail strategy allowing consumers to shop the way they’re most comfortable: in store, curbside pickup or online delivery. Walmart doubled employees working the in-store pickup business to 140,000 to accommodate customer preferences, said Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs. Company revenue rose 5.2% vs. Q3 2019 to $134.7 billion. U.S. comparable sales advanced 6.4%. Coronavirus costs totaled $600 million. Q4 “will feel different from past years as customers shop differently and shopping events are spread out," said Biggs. McMillon believes customers want to find a sense of normalcy in this “unique” holiday season, even if they can’t be with relatives in the usual way. Following reports that the retailer ended a contract for shelf-scanning robots in some stores because humans could handle the job just as fast, McMillon said automation will be a “big part of what we do." The company continues to conduct pilots for automation to find ways to improve efficiency, he said. Automation will play a role “in helping the store experience get better as it reduces the amount of work associates have to do at the store level just moving freight around,” he said.