Walmart Fooled Us Into Believing It’s an Underdog

Amazon, famously, has thrived during the pandemic era. But Walmart has, too — and its e-commerce sales in the second quarter were up 97%. It’s actually plausible, and maybe even likely, that Walmart has sharpened and expanded its game precisely because of Amazon. Walmart isn’t really an underdog — but it’s acting like one.

More to the point, Walmart logged overall sales of $523 billion last year, more than any other company in the world, including Amazon.

But before you get too worried about Walmart’s prospects, here’s a reminder that it has another channel: 5,300 U.S. stores, counting its Sam’s Club subsidiary. As the company enjoys pointing out, an estimated 90% of U.S. residents live within 10 miles of one of its stores.

The bottom line is that by some estimates Amazon owns close to 40% of U.S. retail e-commerce — so much that House lawmakers are calling for it to be broken up. Walmart accounts for a mere 5%.