Walmart’s strong growth drives annual revenue beyond $600 billion

Walmart’s robust growth during Q4/2022 and the whole fiscal year led the company to reach a new high in revenues: a whopping $600 billion in 2022. To put that in context, it is 2,5 times more than the product sales of Amazon, Walmart’s closest rival. Amazon is closing in on Walmart with $514 billion in total revenues.

Walmart’s Q4 showed the importance of focusing on value to the customer through everyday low prices. Here are three takeaways from Walmart’s Q4/2022.

US stores led growth

In total, Walmart grew in Q4 with a whopping $11 billion. Most of that growth came from US stores, representing more than all absolute growth. The US business grew by 8%, whereas the International grew by 2,1%. Sam’s Club continued to outgrow the other segments from a much smaller base.

E-commerce and advertising are growing rapidly

A surprising finding from the Walmart figures is that US e-commerce has become the second most significant growth driver in absolute dollars. It represented 22% of growth with almost $2,5 billion in growth dollars. In percentages, US e-commerce was the most significant growth segment, with 17% YoY growth. E-commerce currently represents 14,6% of revenues for Walmart US.

Another notable growth engine for Walmart, albeit on a minimal revenue basis, is Walmart’s advertising business. It grew by 20%, led by the US Walmart Connect, which grew by 40%.

Inventory levels started to improve with a hit on margins

Investors heavily punished Walmart last spring as the inventory problems started mounting. The inventory levels multiplied between Q4/2021 and Q2/2022. The inventory growth led to a margin decline in margins. During Q4/2022, Walmart successfully managed its inventories, which grew by only 0,1% from the previous year. Also, the inventory/revenue measure has declined from 37% to 34,5%.