US retail giant Walmart on Tuesday reported that ecommerce contributed 12% to its international sales during the quarter ended January 31, led by Flipkart and online grocery delivery in several markets.
In its fourth quarter earnings report, the company said that international sales had grown by 2.3% to $33 billion, despite a disruption in Chile that negatively affected operating income by $110 million. “We remain excited about the opportunity we have there (in India). The way Flipkart and PhonePe are scaling is impressive,” Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, said in his post-earnings presentation to investors and analysts.
The company added that Flipkart now had over one billion visitors a month, with monthly active customers growing by 45% in the last one year and transactions per customer increasing by 30% in the same period. Judith McKenna, CEO of Walmart international, told investors, “Flipkart is continuing to grow as Indian customers become more and more comfortable with ecommerce and the access and affordability that it has provided.”
Apart from Flipkart leading international ecommerce sales for Walmart, the company said that the unit had reported record sales during its BigBillionDays sale event last year, without breaking out any specific numbers. However, on a full-year basis, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company, reported a reduction in free cash flow on account of including a full year of Flipkart’s operations, among other factors. Walmart reported that free cash flow was down to $14.5 billion in the year that ended Jan 31, 2020, compared to $17.4 billion in the previous reporting period.
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