Walmart is getting packages to shoppers’ doors at a frenzied pace.
According to new CEO John Furner, “a large number” of e-commerce orders are now delivered in less than 30 minutes.
“We’re averaging under an hour in our Express Delivery when customers choose that,” said Furner in a fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday. Furner had noted in November that sub-one-hour delivery was Walmart’s fastest growing channel across the delivery options it offers.
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Walmart’s Express Delivery service gets products to customers within a three-hour window, with the same-day offering growing more than 60 percent year over year in the U.S. That figure compounds on the 180 percent acceleration for expedited delivery offerings reported in last year’s fourth quarter.
And in line with the previous quarter ending in November, 35 percent of U.S. store-fulfilled orders were delivered in under three hours. But the money reeled in from that increase may be more telling of its success. Sales through these expedited store-fulfilled delivery channels grew more than 50 percent, the company says.
The efficiency in Walmart’s last-mile delivery and supply chain operation have been a boon for Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce operation. Fourth-quarter e-commerce sales grew 27 percent, marking the eighth straight quarter of 20 percent growth in the channel.
More importantly, the segment has been profitable for all four quarters of 2025.
“We’ve been enjoying roughly double-digit incremental margins in e-commerce. We don’t expect that to change. We feel really good about the plan going forward,” said John David Rainey, chief financial officer at Walmart, on the call. “The nature of this business is you build a large digital platform, and the marginal cost of growth is very low. You don’t have to continue to build that platform to achieve the next percentage point of growth. We’re enjoying the scale economics that come from a digital business. That’s not going to change.”
To kick off the call, Furner said the automation of Walmart’s supply chain was “on track,” with Rainey tacking on that the retailer is “hitting the peak” of annual spending levels on supply chain automation and store remodels. The company is retrofitting dozens of distribution centers with robotics and automation technologies, with a target completion date of 2030.
In a recent example of the changes, Furner highlighted that multiple regional distribution centers retired an old conveyor belt system that had been operating for 20-to-30 years.
“The conversion is underway. We’re really pleased with the capital investments and the returns we’re getting on those,” said Furner. “In the supply chain, those investments probably peak this year and next year.”
In Walmart’s U.S. operation, approximately 60 percent of stores are receiving some freight from automated distribution centers, and approximately 50 percent of e-commerce fulfillment center volume is automated.
The automation shifts have factored heavily in Walmart’s ability to tightly manage its inventory and keep costs down.
Walmart ended its fourth quarter with inventory up 2.6 percent on a constant-currency basis to $58.9 billion, or roughly half the company’s total 4.9 percent revenue increase.
“When you simplify our model, inventory and labor are our two largest costs,” said Rainey. “Technology-enabled productivity benefits are critical to our ability to grow our core omni business at lower marginal cost.”
With the company placing inventory closer to the customer to maximize delivery speed, the retail giant is investing millions to expand its physical distribution network.
Walmart recently acquired a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in East Hartford, Conn. for $212.6 million, according to a Wednesday report from the Hartford Business Journal. The Walmart Fulfillment Services branch bought the facility.
The report comes more than four months after the retailer was confirmed to be investing $300 million to build another 1.2-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Kings Mountain, N.C.
The retailer also is still set to open its fifth “next-gen” fulfillment center in Stockton, Calif. by the end of 2026.
For the quarter, Walmart’s revenue increased 5.6 percent to $190.7 billion, with e-commerce sales jumping 24 percent globally. Comparable store sales at Walmart U.S. bumped up 4.6 percent to $129.2 billion.
Net income declined 19 percent to $4.2 billion, while gross margins improved 13 basis points to 24 percent of sales.
The Bentonville behemoth forecast sales would increase by 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent, with operating income expected to grow between 6 percent and 8 percent.
“Our goal is to outperform this guidance, but we believe it’s prudent to start the year with a level of conservatism, given the backdrop is still somewhat unstable,” Rainey said in the call.
Walmart stock was flat as of noon Thursday.
