Flipkart increases Walmart’s Q4 overseas sales

MUMBAI: Walmart’s foreign sales increase in the fourth quarter of FY24 was aided by Flipkart’s 2023 Big Billion Days (BBD), which were the company’s greatest ever.

The US-based retailer had a 17.6% year-over-year growth in its foreign sales during the quarter, totaling $32.4 billion. Sales for the division increased by 13% year over year to $31.2 billion in constant currency terms. Owing to celebratory occasions, the company’s China and Mexico businesses, Walmex and China, respectively, increased international sales.
During the company’s Tuesday results call, CEO Doug McMillon said, “We had the best Big Billion Days ever.”

Walmart claimed in its results release that the timing of Flipkart’s BBD, which was moved from Q3 of last year to Q4 of this year, had a favorable impact on the quarter’s (international) growth. A record 1.4 billion people visited Flipkart’s popular annual seasonal sales event, BBD, which took place in October of 2023.
Chief financial officer John David Rainey stated, “In India, Flipkart’s growth continues to compound in double digits, while PhonePe is now processing more than six billion monthly transactions.”

He also mentioned that over the next few years, India, Mexico, and China will account for roughly three-fourth of PhonePe’s growth in its international business. In a $16 billion agreement, Walmart purchased a 77% controlling share in Flipkart in 2018 and has since increased its ownership of the company. At the moment, it has an 80.5% share in the Bengaluru-based e-commerce business, which faces up against Reliance and Amazon in India.

Walmart held its inaugural growth summit in India last week, the first market outside of the US, Chile, and Mexico to do so. The goal of the summit was to help Walmart find new suppliers in India so it could reach its ambition of sourcing $10 billion worth of products from the nation annually by 2027.