NEW YORK – A surging online business and strong food sales boosted Walmart’s results Thursday ahead of the holiday season, a day after its rival Target offered a cautious forecast that overshadowed progress it has made in bringing more customers to its stores.
And Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, reported a boost in third-quarter profit and sales, but its results and outlook fell short of Wall Street expectations. The chain cited severe hurricanes in the U.S. South and a later unveiling of the new iPhone X.
Still, the big-box stores fared well overall, at least temporarily allaying fears that Amazon is a death knell for this sector. With consumer spending solid and unemployment low, the National Retail Federation trade group expects holiday sales to at least match the 3.6 percent growth of a year ago. Analysts at Bain & Co. expect Amazon to capture about half of the total growth this holiday season, pushing retailers to spend heavily at its stores and online.
But Walmart’s huge investments in its online business and its fleet have helped to put distance between itself and other traditional retailers. Since buying Jet.com for more than $3 billion last year, Walmart has added online services, acquired brands like Bonobos and ModCloth and vastly expanded the number of items on its site.
FILE – This Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, file photo shows Walmart signage at one of the company’s neighborhood markets in Hialeah, Fla. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. reports earnings, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)“Walmart’s online performance continues to validate its substantial investments in this critical channel, including its purchase of Jet.com,” Moody’s lead retail analyst Charlie O’Shea said in a note.