Walmart's New Facilities Will Keep The Customers Out: Will 'Dark Stores' Help Beat Amazon?

Retail giant Walmart Inc. WMT faces macroeconomic concerns and tariffs as it seeks to post continued revenue growth going forward.

The company could have a new secret weapon to support its growth.

What Happened: Walmart is opening "dark stores" in several markets to ramp up its delivery and e-commerce efforts in the ongoing struggle with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN for the retail revenue crown.

One dark store has already opened in Dallas and another is planned for Bentonville, Arkansas, near the company's headquarters, according to Bloomberg.

Unlike traditional Walmart supercenters or retail locations, these dark stores are closed to the public. They carry some of the most popular items that consumers frequently buy.

Essentially, the new dark stores are large warehouses that will complement existing warehouses and ramp up the speed and size of Walmart's delivery range.

The report said more dark stores could be built in the future, and faster delivery is among the retail giant’s key priorities.

Read Also: Walmart Growth Prospects Remain Solid But Tariff Uncertainty Lingers, Analysts Say

Why It's Important: Walmart’s strategy of having more warehouses to help with e-commerce growth isn't new. The company previously had a small number of warehouses similar to these dark stores in the mid-2010s, but those stores were mostly closed after the COVID-19 pandemic.

To better compete with Amazon and other digital retailers, Walmart has launched new services like pharmacy delivery and increased its third-party selling marketplace items.

Walmart expects to hit profitability for its online segment this year, following billions of dollars in investment in the segment.

In recent quarters, Amazon has posted higher revenue totals than Walmart, but this is due to the inclusion of both Amazon's retail and AWS businesses.

In March, Benzinga polled readers to see which retail stock they thought would lead by the end of 2025.

The results were:

• Amazon: 48%
• They’ll remain neck-and-neck: 34%
• Walmart: 18%

Amazon was the clear leader in the poll, suggesting investors think the e-commerce giant could have the top stock return in 2025 of the two companies and continue to pass Walmart in revenue totals.

While Amazon has surpassed Walmart in several quarters, Walmart maintained its lead in the 2024 fiscal year totals.

Amazon's revenue was $638.0 billion in 2024, including $107.6 billion from AWS. Walmart’s was $681.0 billion.

Walmart's latest focus on e-commerce could help expand its growth and help fight off competition from Amazon.

WMT Price Action: Walmart stock trades at $97.78 on Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $66.67 to $105.30. Walmart stock is up 8.5% year-to-date in 2025 and 44.8% over the last year.

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