Walmart, the United States-based retailer, said Flipkart continues to deliver positive results and its revenue profile is only improving as the business grows. The company did not provide specific financials.
“Flipkart delivered double-digit topline growth…Flipkart again delivered positive contribution margin and PhonePe continues to deliver amazing growth in total payment volume (TPV),” a senior executive at Walmart told analysts while discussing the company’s Q2FY25 results on August 15.
Walmart’s international businesses together contributed to a 8.3 percent increase in revenue in Q2FY25. The company’s international units, which includes Flipkart, PhonePe and Myntra in India, among others, registered a revenue of $29.6 billion up from $27.6 billion recorded in Q2FY24, company filings showed.
Flipkart is the market leader in e-commerce in India and has been a key unit of Walmart since its acquisition in 2018. It has been repeatedly found mentions in the global earnings call and has been singled out as a strong performing unit several times unlike its peers. While not a like-for-like comparison, Amazon’s global team has not been giving updates on its India operations for several quarters now.
Walmart executives also said Flipkart grocery grew 50 percent year-on-year and the unit has more legs to run. This comes at a time when the company is preparing to expand Flipkart Minutes, its quick commerce unit, in several parts of India after a pilot in Bengaluru, its home turf.
More legs to run
In India, the September to November period is significant for e-commerce companies like Flipkart and Amazon. In fact, about 50 percent of their annual gross merchandise value (GMV) comes just during those 2-3 months.
“One of the things I am finding in our international (units) is that there is a significant impact on businesses from events. We will have Big Billion Days (BBD) in the back half which does change the profit profile. We are still bullish and optimistic about the results,” Kathrn McLay, President and CEO, Walmart International told analysts.
Speaking about Walmart’s e-commerce business in general, “E-commerce will eventually make money for us. It’s going to cross a threshold, we’re going to talk about that at some point,” a Walmart executive told analysts.
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