Walmart Wow FY 2026 Q3 Earnings

TL;DR – What You Need to Know

* eCommerce the Growth Engine: Global eCommerce was up 27%,

* Ads + Membership is the Profit Engine: Fully 33% of adjusted operating income is from ads and membership and growing.

* Predictive Agentic Makes an Appearance: From OpenAI-powered shopping through ChatGPT to predictive, auto-built baskets in Chile.

eCommerce Update

* Walmart US eCommerce sales up 28%

* 7th consecutive quarter above 20% growth.

* Pickup, delivery, and advertising a key strength.

Agentic Note from Chile

* One killer call-out on the call was Walmart Chile eCommerce has created this predictive cart feature that works with WhatsApp which is now driving fully 20% of eCommerce sales in the country.

Walmart US

* Comp sales up 4.5%.

* eCommerce up 28%.

* 35% of digital orders delivered in under 3 minutes.

* 7,400 active rollbacks, half in grocery. 2,000+ rollbacks this year have become the new everyday low price (EDLP).

* Walmart+ grew double digits. Q3 net adds strongest on record.

Advertising

* Growth at 53% globally (is this mostly due to Big Billions in India?)

* Walmart Connect in the US ex-Vizio grew 33%.

Supply Chain

* 35% of store fulfilled orders expedited to under 3 hours.

* Sales using expedited fulfillment are up 70% this year.

* 60% of stores are receiving at least some fulfillment center freight from automated distribution centers.

* More than 50% of eCommerce fulfillment center volume is now automated.

Consumer & Tariffs

* Inflation steady at 1.3%

* Less impact from tariffs than expected

Financials

* 3Q Revenue up 6% to $10B.

* Ads and membership are now 33% of consolidated adjusted operating income.

* YTD operating cashflow at $27B, up $4.5B compared to last year.

Inventory levels up 3% overall. In the US, inventory grew 2.6%.

Walmart leadership mentioned on the call that they feel they are setting a new standard for omnichannel retail. I would tend to agree. The biggest worry from analysts on the call was “are you investing too much of the profit back in the business”. Which from where I sit, seems to be paying returns.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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