Category: HOME TEXTILES
Country: United States
By Jennifer Marks
Editor in Chief
25th April, 2025
Fast Facts
-General merchandise was Walmart U.S.’s only declining category in 2024
-Sales fell 9.5% from 2021 peak but rose 4.8% from 2019
-Home category and Walmart Marketplace helped drive quarterly gains
-E-commerce sales at Walmart U.S. surged nearly 80% in 2024
Bentonville, Ark. –The general merchandise segment at Walmart U.S. was the only aggregated merchandise category that failed to grow last year. However, the decline was negligible, marking an improvement over the two previous years.
General merchandise sales in 2024 were down 9.5% from their peak in 2021, a shortfall of $12 billion. Comparing the same periods, total Walmart U.S. merchandise sales rose 17.5%.
The picture is more favorable when 2024 is compared to the pre-pandemic era. General merchandise sales climbed 4.8% in 2024 – up $5.2 billion – compared to 2019. But that is well off pace for Walmart U.S. as a whole, which boosted total sales 35.6% over 2019.
Walmart Inc.’s newly issued Annual Report covers the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2025 and shows three consecutive years of sales declines for general merchandise as a category. The report breaks out Walmart U.S. net sales by four categories: grocery, general merchandise, health & wellness and other.
Home Helped Lift Sales
The consistent theme from quarter to quarter last year was that general merchandise was regaining ground largely thanks Walmart Marketplace and higher-income households ($100K and up).
Home was called out as a top-performing category in each of the fiscal year’s four quarters. During investor calls, executives also noted that home sales on Marketplace climbed by 20% or more during each period.
Walmart U.S. continues to expand its digital product assortment online, especially in general merchandise, which accounts for two-thirds of Marketplace assortment, executives said during the Walmart Inc. Investment Community Meeting earlier this month.
E-commerce growth at Walmart U.S. has been thriving, with sales jumping 50% or more over the past three years. The expansion of offerings on Marketplace appear to have galvanized that trend in 2024 as e-comm sales climbed nearly 80%.
Walmart released the report today along with its annual proxy ahead of the company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, which is set for Thursday, June 5.
Courtesy: hometextilestoday.com/
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