- Walmart’s Q4 2024 revenue grew 4.1% to $180.6 billion, while fiscal yr revenue grew 5.1% to $681 billion, per the corporate’s latest earnings report.
- The retailer’s global promoting business grew 29% in the quarter, including 24% for Walmart Connect in the U.S., and grew 27% to $4.4 billion on the yr.
- The acquisition of Vizio, which closed in December, is predicted to create latest opportunities for advertisers and will provide one other boost to the corporate’s growing ad business.
Walmart’s strong fourth quarter exceeded expectations, however the retailer still issued a modest outlook as uncertainties surround consumer behavior and economic and geopolitical conditions, CFO John David Rainey explained on an earnings call. However, the retailer’s promoting business growth shows no signs of slowing and helps buoy revenue as other parts of the business cope with tighter margins.
“If you simply take promoting and membership, just those two categories, that was a little bit greater than 1 / 4 of the general operating income for us in the quarter,” Rainey said on the decision.
Walmart’s global ad business grew to $4.4 billion in 2024, with a 27% growth rate in line with the previous yr’s figure (28% to $3.4 billion). While the expansion rate is encouraging, the retailer’s ad business still has a ways to go to match its competitors: Amazon’s ad revenue surpassed $56 billion last yr, the primary yr in which ads ran on Prime Video.
To that time, Walmart is working to integrate Vizio into its operations after completing the acquisition for the TV maker in December, a move that anticipated a greater convergence of retail media and connected TV. The retailer expects the addition of Vizio and its SmartCast Operating System to its portfolio of promoting capabilities to assist boost product discovery and supply brands with greater impact for his or her ad spend with the corporate.
“I’m just really pleased with the best way it really works for the Walmart Connect business to have more ways to distribute promoting for sellers and suppliers, that is really exciting for them. And we hope to have the ability to try this in a really efficient way,” said President and CEO of Walmart U.S. John Furner on the earnings call.
Apart from its promoting business, Walmart’s continued shift from brick-and-mortar sales to e-commerce is changing the corporate’s cost profile, which affects its own promoting. E-commerce now represents 18% of Walmart’s business, and moving to more digital sales changes the “channel mix equation,” Rainey explained on the decision.
“We have a possibility to make investments in the business as well,” the manager said. “If you take a look at the fourth quarter, marketing is an area that stands out that we invested a little bit bit more heavily into.”
To that end, Walmart in January unveiled an update to its visual identity that is supposed to embrace the growing role that digital and cross-channel capabilities have for its business because it seeks to grow to be a more “modern, culturally dynamic brand.”
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