Padding required to make it through these aisles... Walmart, aka the largest US retailer, just unveiled a value-sized cartload of earnings. The numbers are for February, March, and April — half semi-normal, half full-blown pandemic. Walmart's corona-conomy success is far from shocking, but it tells an interesting story:
- -5.6%: Walmart's foot traffic actually fell almost 6% compared to last year. Buuut...
- +16.5%: Spending per transaction jumped, meaning Walmart carts were 16.5% fuller — shoppers visited less, but stocked up more.
- +74%: Online sales soared, thanks to Walmart's meaty e-grocery operation— 3.2K locations were hot on curbside pickup, while 1.6K made delivery dreams come true.
- +10%: How much total sales surged compared to last year. Despite the $900M the 'Mart dropped on COVID-related expenses (like hiring 235K extra workers), it still had a higher operating profit.
Like that 21+ ID card... Walmart's got a cool ID of its own — it's part of the "Essential Club," aka the group of businesses that are allowed to stay open during lockdown periods.
- Like Walmart, Kohl's sells clothes, toys, and home essentials (like Walmart, because Walmart sells everything).
- Unlike Walmart, Kohl's does not sell groceries.... That's why its sales for the same quarter tanked almost 44% — Kohl's 1.5K stores were shut for almost half the quarter. #Nonessential