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Walmart moves past Apple as No. 3 U.S. e-tailer, but Amazon still dominates

Walmart is still small relative to Amazon in e-commerce, but the company is making its move, according to eMarketer. Separately, Walmart's third quarter results highlighted strong e-commerce and omnichannel growth.

Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor Nov. 15, 2018 at 3:00 a.m. PT

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Walmart's big bet on e-commerce is starting to pay off as it is poised to move past Apple to be the No. 3 largest online retailer, according to eMarketer data.

eMarketer said it recently increased its forecast for Walmart, which also owns Jet.com and a bevy of other e-commerce properties.

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The catch is that Walmart is still way behind Amazon on the e-commerce front. Here's a look at eMarketer's market share rankings. According to eMarketer Walmart is expected to capture 4 percent of all online retail spending in the U.S., or $20.91 billion.

eMarketer also noted that Walmart's e-commerce growth is 39.4 percent just behind Wayfair's 40.1 percent clip. Apple's e-commerce growth has been hit by smartphone saturation, but its share ticks up slightly.

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Separately, Walmart also reported third quarter earnings with revenue of $124.9 billion, up 1.4 percent from a year ago. Same store sales were up 3.4 percent and the company cited strong progress with omnichannel efforts, notably grocery pickup and delivery.

The retailing giant also reported operating income of $5 billion. The company also raised its outlook to include same store sales growth of at least 3 percent with fiscal 2019 adjusted earnings per share of $4.75 to $4.85. The company previously said earnings for the year would be $4.65 to $4.80 a share.

In prepared remarks, executives said e-commerce sales were up 43 percent in the quarter. Brett Biggs, CFO of Walmart, said:

In Walmart U.S. eCommerce, we continue to focus on improving the Customer Value Index. Our sales growth reflects the progress we are making, especially in the assortment and delivery metrics, resulting in higher net promoter scores. We've added over 2,000 brands to Walmart.com just since April, and in the past few weeks, we added Nike and Bonobos merchandise to Jet.com along with Blue Apron meal kits.

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Amazon, however, doesn't need to sweat about Walmart just yet. Amazon is actually capturing nearly 5 percent of all retail sales and is dominating in e-commerce. One thing is clear: The Black Friday and Cyber Monday brawl will be fun to watch.

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