Walmart’s Q4 Holiday Sales Likely Show Amazon’s Dominance In Electronics

Amazon is growing faster and its market cap is bigger, but Walmart still sells more stuff. Investors will get a fresh look at how the two titans are faring against each other next week when Walmart delivers its Q4 results, two weeks after Amazon shattered the record books with its own.

When the world’s largest retailer reports its fourth-quarter earnings next Thursday (Feb. 18), industry watchers will get to make fresh comparisons as to how Walmart — with 11,500 global stores — is stacking up against Amazon, the $1.6 trillion online giant that is now four times as valuable.

Although Amazon’s record holiday quarter revenues rose 44 percent to $125 billion, analysts expect that the 75-year-old box store chain from Bentonville, Arkansas will still comfortably beat that benchmark by about $25 billion, with sales estimates from 24 analysts who cover the stock ranging from $145 billion to $150 billion.

While that total will still keep Walmart in the top spot, new Tracker research from PYMNTS shows that in at least one key category, Amazon already holds a dominant share and is pulling away: electronics and appliances.

Hotter Than a Microwave

According to the latest third-quarter head-to-head analysis, Amazon’s share of total spend in the electronics and appliance segment stood at 23.7 percent. While that was down incrementally from Q2, the 18.6 percentage point advantage it held over Walmart’s 5.1 percent share was at an all-time high.

Furthermore, when this segment is parsed to only include the share of eCommerce electronics sales, Amazon’s haul doubles to an astounding 46.5 percent.

Adding to Walmart’s woes in this area was the fact that specialty retailer Best Buy was able to retool and regain traction quickly last quarter to boost its same-store sales by 23 percent. “We leveraged our unique capabilities, including our supply chain expertise, flexible store operating model and our ability to shift quickly to digital, to meet what is clearly elevated demand for products that help customers work, learn, cook, entertain and connect in their homes,” Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said in announcing the Q3 earnings.

Staying Hip

As it faces evolving and changing competition from Amazon and other retailers, Walmart embraced streaming social shopping via TikTok, which it referred to as “the hottest place on the internet to shop Walmart.”

“We’re excited that we have the opportunity to be at the forefront of this innovation in a shoppable livestream – a first on TikTok in the U.S.,” said William White, chief marketing officer, Walmart U.S. “It gives us a new way to engage with users and reach potential new customers, while bringing our own brand of fun – with the help of fashion-loving TikTok creators – to the platform.”

In fact, Walmart went as far as to offer to buy TikTok’s U.S. business along with Oracle, in a transaction aimed at appeasing the security concerns of former President Donald Trump. Although Walmart’s TikTok presence is still active and followed by over three million people, the Biden administration had reportedly reversed the stance to sell TikTok’s U.S. division and put the acquisition on hold.

Staying Ahead

When it comes to eCommerce, Amazon is still the one to catch, and even though Founder Jeff Bezos is now transitioning away from his day-to-day CEO duties, the Seattle (and also soon to be Arlington, Virginia)-based company shows no signs of letting up.

“Amazon is what it is because of invention. We do crazy things together and then make them normal,” Bezos said after shutting the books on the best quarterly and annual earnings in the company’s 25-year history. In fact, within days of that announcement, the company said it was expanding its touchless payment pilot program that launched last fall and is installing its Amazon One palm scanners in eight different retail locations in Seattle, with plans to add additional locations – and uses – throughout the year. “No two palms are alike,” the company’s website proclaims. “Your palm is a unique part of you. It doesn’t go anywhere you don’t, and [it] can’t be used by anyone but you,” adding that it is a truly touchless system. “Our goal is to unlock your world by giving you the freedom to pay, enter and identify [yourself] with nothing but your palm.”