Bentonville, Ark. – Walmart plans to aggressively expand its product assortment and leverage technology to navigate through the bumpy economic environment, executives said yesterday during the company’s Investment Community Meeting.
While the retail giant is not immune to the effects of heightened tariffs and economic uncertainty, the company is positioned to play offense, according to Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart Inc.
“I’ve seen us navigate times like the period after 9/11, the global financial crisis, a pandemic and, more recently, high inflation,” he said. “Nothing about the current environment impacts our confidence in our business or our strategy.”
The hours-long event yesterday morning took place before President Trump announced a 90-day rollback on tariffs to 10% on most recent tariff levies except for China.
Here are a few of the key take-aways:
Speed to market. Walmart has created an agentic AI tool called Trend-to-Product to narrow long lead times. Its first apparel collection designed with Trend-to-Product sheared 18 weeks off the company’s typical timeline, “and we saw strong sell-throughs” after it landed last month, McMillon said.
Marketplace opens the door for more. Walmart U.S. continues to expand its digital product assortment online, especially in general merchandise, which accounts for two-thirds of Marketplace assortment. The company is also using Marketplace to introduce premium and direct-to-consumer brands, such as StockX, Rebag, and Lume, which have driven incremental growth and category expansion.
Sam’s Club determined to gain dominance. Sam’s Club is going to lean in hard on expansion by amping up its e-commerce operation, remodeling its entire store fleet to a new Club of the Future format and opening 15 new clubs annually for the foreseeable future. Sam’s is also expanding its national brand assortment in-club and online – including within general merchandise, which is now a $100 million business for Sam’s.
Divisional CEO Chris Nicholas pointed to the innovation hub Sam’s location opened a few months ago as an example of how Sam’s is integrating experience and technology. Sam’s has set a goal of doubling its membership over the next eight to 10 years, he noted.
He added, “We will redefine what the future of the club channel looks like – and that future is omni.”
The transcript of the Investment Community Meeting is available at Management Prepared Remarks.