Walmart’s Slowing E-Commerce, Margin Weigh as Sales Beat

  • Online revenue slowed in second quarter after a recent boom
  • Chain raises annual outlook amid strong back-to-school season
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Walmart Inc.’s pandemic-driven gains in e-commerce slowed last quarter and profit margin fell, raising questions about the retailer’s ability to maintain momentum even after it topped Wall Street’s sales expectations.

The company’s U.S. online sales rose 6% in the second quarter, the company said Tuesday in a statementBloomberg Terminal. That was down from earlier in the pandemic, when soaring e-commerce demand routinely resulted in high double-digit gains. Online orders contributed only 0.2% to Walmart’s U.S. comparable sales gain in the quarter, compared with 6% a year earlier.