The pandemic helped boost Walmart’s e-commerce sales by 97% in the second quarter

Walmart’s investments in e-commerce, including online grocery delivery and pickup, continue to pay off for the retailer. In the company’s second-quarter results released this morning, Walmart reported that U.S. e-commerce sales increased 97% – an increase due to more customers shopping online during the pandemic and stocking up on household and grocery items online.

Walmart currently offers grocery pickup at 3,450 locations and same-day delivery at 2,730 stores. Since February, it has expanded its time slots by 30% to meet consumer demand.

Overall, the company also benefited from the impact of the U.S. government’s consumer stimulus checks this quarter. As the stimulus funds ended, sales began to normalize. However, the company noted, Walmart’s July comparable sales were still up more than 4%.

Walmart’s online marketplace also gained traction thanks to greater e-commerce growth, with sales increasing by a triple-digit percentage.

Additionally, Walmart’s U.S. same-store sales increased 9.3% in the retailer’s fiscal second quarter, helped by strong general merchandise and food sales. Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon also noted that the retailer has seen strong sales in categories such as televisions, computing devices and connected homes – sales that also have a link to the pandemic forcing people to spend more time at home . He also said some consumers continued to stockpile items in coronavirus hotspots, such as cleaning products, that were often still out of stock. Both cleaning supplies and stationery products (e.g., TP and paper towels) were top sales leaders for Walmart consumables this quarter.

Meanwhile, the overall increase in grocery orders can be partly attributed to the effects of the pandemic, not just the ease of grocery shopping online. As more people cook meals at home rather than eat in restaurants, their grocery orders have also increased. Walmart said both grocery pickup and delivery saw its “highest-ever sales volume” this quarter.

As the company noted, the pandemic is also changing the way consumers shop. Instead of going to the store regularly, consumers now shop less frequently, but buy more with each trip. Combined with the shift to e-commerce, this led to average ticket sizes increasing 27% in the quarter, while comparable transactions declined 14%.

During the earnings call, McMillon briefly confirmed Walmart’s plans to introduce a membership service, as we previously reported. The company is said to be working on its own alternative to Amazon Prime, called Walmart+. However, as Vox recently reported, the release has been delayed multiple times. According to the CEO, Walmart has been testing the delivery component of its membership service since last year as part of its “Delivery Unlimited” program, which the company described as a “great offering” for a broader membership program.

We have been testing a limited subscription delivery membership since late last year,” McMillon said. “The offer to customers was limited to a grocery and consumables delivery service as a reason for signing up. Since this launch, we have proven our ability to select and deliver a broad set of categories across the supercenter, not only food and consumables, but also a wide range of general merchandise. We believe this range and our ability to deliver quickly across the country, combined with several other customer benefits, will result in an attractive proposition,” he added.

Currently, Delivery Unlimited subscribers pay $12.95 per month or $98 per year to order groceries online at Walmart.com with no order fee. However, Walmart+ will reportedly offer other benefits such as gas discounts and special product deals.

McMillon remained tight-lipped about the details of his service, saying instead that Walmart would have more to offer when it was ready to talk about it.

Overall, Walmart beat earnings in the quarter, posting revenue of $137.74 billion, topping estimates of $135.48 billion. Earnings per share were an adjusted $1.56, compared with the expected $1.25. Net income also rose year over year to $6.48 billion, or $2.27 per share, up from $3.61 billion, or $1.26.