Retail

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon: 'We need even more progress on Walmart.com'


Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Walmart is admitting it still has work to do online.

The big-box retailer said Thursday that its e-commerce sales were up 41% during the latest quarter, thanks to a strong grocery business.

But CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement: “We need even more progress on Walmart.com.”

“We’re making progress on many fronts, but we need to do more and move faster, especially with our assortment including marketplace,” he said. “Our strength is being driven by food, which is good, but we need even more progress on Walmart.com with general merchandise. We’re mixing the business out better to achieve better margin rates, but there is more work to do. We’re committed to progress and building a larger, healthier eCommerce business. Our customers want that, our marketplace sellers want that, and so do we.”

Walmart’s online business has especially come under fire this year, as competition with Amazon only intensifies.

Vox reported in July that Walmart’s e-commerce division was on track to lose more than $1 billion this year, which had caused some strife internally.

Some of those tensions reportedly were between Walmart’s CEO in the U.S., Greg Foran, and e-commerce chief Marc Lore. Walmart announced in October that Foran would be stepping down from his role. He has been replaced by former Sam’s Club CEO John Furner.

Walmart has been investing in faster delivery options, including a next-day option, and it has acquired a slew of online brands, some of which remain unprofitable, according to Vox. Walmart said in October it would be selling one of the clothing brands it had bought, ModCloth.

Grocery, however, has been a strength, thanks to new services being rolled out like in-home grocery delivery and an unlimited grocery delivery membership that Walmart now offers from 1,400 U.S. stores.

“Grocery pickup and delivery, along with new offerings like Unlimited Delivery and InHome Delivery, will help us unlock advantages we have to serve customers in a way that reduces friction and enhances convenience,” McMillon said. “We need to translate this repetitive food and consumable volume into a stronger Walmart.com business that’s profitable over time, so that’s what we’re working on.”

Walmart shares were rising nearly 2% in premarket trading Thursday, on the heels of the upbeat earnings report. Shares are up about 30% for the year. Walmart has a market cap of roughly $344.1 billion, compared with Amazon’s roughly $869.2 billion.



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.