{"id":76629,"date":"2025-11-21T15:56:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T15:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/?p=76629"},"modified":"2025-11-21T15:56:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T15:56:04","slug":"walmarts-e-commerce-growth-speaks-to-ceo-doug-mcmillons-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/walmarts-e-commerce-growth-speaks-to-ceo-doug-mcmillons-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Walmart\u2019s e-commerce growth speaks to CEO Doug McMillon\u2019s legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">4 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/806043\/2025-11-21_10.45.14\/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-retail-legacy-leaves-behind.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>As Walmart\u2019s Doug McMillon moves toward the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/news\/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-retires-john-furner-succeeds\/805522\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">end of his tenure as CEO<\/a> in January, the retailer\u2019s third quarter earnings show he\u2019s achieved some of the goals he set out over a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p>When McMillon <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate.walmart.com\/news\/2013\/11\/25\/doug-mcmillon-elected-new-chief-executive-officer-of-wal-mart-stores-inc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">became the chief of Walmart<\/a> in February of 2014, a main focus of his was e-commerce and global growth.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll invest aggressively in e-commerce and increase our small store rollout in the U.S., as we&#8217;ve done in several other countries, to deliver value and convenience,\u201d McMillon <a href=\"https:\/\/stock.walmart.com\/_assets\/_2dee1a4445bc4535cc7320ff1e66b4ae\/walmart\/db\/938\/9444\/earnings_release\/Earnings+Release+%28FY14+Q4%29.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said in a February 2014<\/a>\u00a0earnings report statement. &#8220;We will continue to grow our global business by focusing on customers and serving them how they want to be served.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The retailer in April revealed it expects its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/news\/walmart-e-commerce-profitable-tariffs-investors-meeting\/744977\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. online sales to turn a profit<\/a> this year \u2014 and e-commerce is still on the rise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe notable thing about our e-commerce growth is the consistency of it across our markets,\u201d Walmart CFO John David Rainey said on a call with analysts Thursday, who added that U.S. e-commerce sales grew 28%. \u201cThis was the seventh consecutive quarter of e-commerce growth above 20%.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walmart\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/stock.walmart.com\/_assets\/_d9d3f96c9e3e2412e5b2738e1c211287\/walmart\/db\/938\/9966\/earnings_release\/Earnings+Release+%28FY26+Q3%29.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">total revenue in Q3 grew 5.8%<\/a> year over year to $179.5 billion, with global e-commerce net sales up 27%, the mass retailer reported Thursday. The online growth was fueled by store-fulfilled pickup and delivery, as well as the company\u2019s third-party marketplace. Meanwhile, Walmart U.S. comparable sales increased 4.5%.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the company\u2019s omnichannel success is due to McMillon, according to analysts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMcMillon spent a ~decade investing in digital, supply chain, and omnichannel capabilities,\u201d Jefferies analysts led by Corey Tarlowe said in an emailed note on Friday, shortly after McMillon\u2019s<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>departure was announced. \u201cHis tenure was transformative, prioritizing investments in associates, digital and eCommerce capabilities, and supply chain modernization. These deliberate and technology-focused initiatives have driven robust financial performance and positioned Walmart as a leader in omnichannel retail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walmart&#8217;s U.S. lead John Furner was<a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/news\/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-retires-john-furner-succeeds\/805522\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> named as McMillon&#8217;s successor<\/a> last week, with the formal transition taking place Feb. 1. Both executives have worked at the company for decades, starting off as hourly store associates.<\/p>\n<p>Looking to the future, incoming CEO Furner will maintain a focus on digital and e-commerce, but the lens has now shifted to AI.\u00a0McMillon last week expressed optimism that Furner can shepherd the company through the \u201cnext AI-driven transformation\u201d\u00a0and agentic AI \u2014 an area in which Walmart has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/news\/walmart-artificial-intelligence-ai-super-agents-retail-associates\/753996\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pursued bullish investment<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 was a hot topic during the Thursday earnings call.<\/p>\n<p>Furner touted the company\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/news\/walmart-launches-generative-ai-assistant-sparky\/750300\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">consumer-facing Sparky<\/a> AI agent. He expressed excitement about new capabilities to come with Sparky over the next several months that will aim to \u201ctake more action\u201d on behalf of shoppers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re using agentic AI to help people think about the things that they may want to reorder, or, in other words, give them nudges about staying in stock,\u201d Furner told analysts.<\/p>\n<p>The retailer is able to use its international segment to test<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>new technological capabilities in different markets, president and CEO of Walmart International Kathryn McLay said on the call.<\/p>\n<p>An example of that is the company\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DMqWneROLzs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carrito Listo \u201ccapability<\/a> launched in Chile.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe actually create customers\u2019 orders for them, send them a WhatsApp prompt to ask them if they&#8217;re interested in buying that basket,\u201d McLay said. \u201cThey go onto the app, and they can see we&#8217;ve created a basket for them that actually has all the brands that they normally buy in the kind of intervals that they like to buy it, and they have full agency over whether they want to accept that basket, whether they want to add to the basket, whether they want to take from the basket.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The company reported its international business net sales increased 10.8% to $33.5 billion in the quarter. Walmart also raised its guidance for the full year, now expecting net sales growth of between 4.8% and 5.1% compared to its previous expectation of a 3.75% to 4.75% increase.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWalmart delivered a comp sales and earnings beat,\u201d Roth Managing Director Bill Kirk said in an emailed note. \u201cWith accelerating e-commerce and advertising business, we believe Walmart is strongly positioned for the upcoming Holiday spending period.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Published by Dralys Blog \u2013 Stories | Insights | Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Discover more on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dralysstore.com\" target=\"_blank\">DralysStore.com<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pld-like-dislike-wrap pld-template-2\">\r\n    <div class=\"pld-like-wrap  pld-common-wrap\">\r\n    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" class=\"pld-like-trigger pld-like-dislike-trigger  \" title=\"\" data-post-id=\"76629\" data-trigger-type=\"like\" data-restriction=\"no\" data-already-liked=\"0\">\r\n                        <i class=\"fas fa-heart\"><\/i>\r\n                <\/a>\r\n    <span class=\"pld-like-count-wrap pld-count-wrap\">    <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the article 4 min This audio is auto-generated. 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