Tuesday's Market Minute: Big Box Continues To Shine

Walmart WMT posted first-quarter earnings which beat estimates, continuing the trend of strength in big-box retail. Comparable sales in the U.S. were up 6.2 percent ex-fuel, and e-commerce sales rose 37 percent. This continued growth in e-commerce is positive for Walmart’s rivalry with Amazon AMZN.

However, Walmart is still using FedEx or other third-party delivery services for both its two-day shipping and same-day grocery delivery. As Amazon and Target shift to making that service in-house, Walmart may need to catch up. This growth in e-commerce could create an incentive to do so, but as the U.S. continues to be vaccinated and begins to reopen, it will be interesting how many people still find online grocery shopping convenient when Target and Walmart have already focused on accessibility to customers with their physical locations. Overall, Walmart says its optimism is higher than it was at the start of the year, with encouraging traffic and grocery trends.

Image Sourced from Pixabay