Walmart Makes Room for E-Commerce

By Reagan Payne

The global pandemic known as “The Coronavirus” keeps most Americans from their once-leisurely grocery store stroll. With masks and fear everywhere, the collective shifted to shopping online.

This was an obvious and expected trend at the beginning of lockdown back in April, but supermarket superpower Walmart reports new shopping habits sending e-commerce sales soaring by 79%. Whether the shoppers have items shipped, groceries delivered or partake in curbside pickup, they are all being more conscious now of the viral threat than ever.

Of course, more Walmart deliveries equals more Walmart truck driver jobs.  The company has hired more than half a million new employees this year. Class A CDL Drivers, this one is for you; there are likely many truck driver job openings near you. The No. 1 reason Walmart drivers leave is retirement – this turnover is one of the lowest in the industry! 

These jobs are guaranteed to grow in availability; Walmart is scaling back its international investments to dedicate more money and energy here in e-commerce. What would their online shopping be without any experienced drivers to deliver the goods?

International Impact

Walmart is incredibly serious about this growth. For 18 years, the company held a large stake in a local Japanese supermarket chain: Seiyu. Being the third-largest economy in the world, the company held onto this investment for nearly two decades in hopes of a lucrative return. Amid the pressure to grow its e-commerce, Walmart sold most of its shares in Seiyu to make room for the booming trend.

CEO Doug McMillon is confident this online shopping trend will not fade away soon. “We’re convinced that most of the behavior change will persist beyond the pandemic and that our combination of strong stores and emerging digital capabilities will be a winning formula,” McMillon told investors on an earnings call. “Customers will want to be served in a variety of ways and we’re positioned to save them money, provide the variety of product choices they’re looking for, and deliver the experience they choose in the moment.”

Holiday Season

Even coming up on a former door-buster event, Walmart found a way to spread the Black Friday love across a longer (and likely more lucrative) time span. Walmart Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said, “Think about how you supply stores. It certainly takes the pressure off of a system that’s typically geared toward a few days or a Black Friday weekend. All of that I think is a positive for us and for customers.”

Reagan Payne is a staff writer for Wright Media. She can be reached at rpayne@wrightmediacorp.com