luded the company sold about US$830 billion worth of goods, according to some estimates, which would put it well beyond Walmart. Bragging rights aside, Walmart’s leadership, including incoming CEO John Furner, has every reason to be chuffed with the company’s fiscal 2026, which ended on January 31. In the quarter ending January 31, the company reeled in consolidated revenue of US$190.7 billion, an increase of 5.6 per cent year-on-year, a little lower (4.9 per cent) when adjusted for currency movements. Gross margin edged up to 24.0 per cent and operating income rose 8.7 per cent, while net after-tax profit was US$4.4 billion, down 19.0 per cent from a year ago. For the full year, Walmart’s revenues rose by 4.7 per cent to US$713.2 billion, and net profit by 10.5 per cent to US$22.3 billion. Driving some of the revenue growth was, as usual, global e-commerce, which in the fourth quarter soared by 24 per cent as delivery times further accelerated and the marketplace business expanded to complement Walmart’s own massive assortment. Furner again extolled the virtues of AI implementation across the company’s businesses: “The way we are using technology and AI is helping us create great customer solutions, reduce friction, simplify decision-making, and pinpoint where our inventory is, all while maintaining the trust we’ve earned from our customers and members.” Agent Sparky, the AI shopping tool that the company favours, came in for a special pat on the back because customers using it spend on average about one-third more than customers who do not. Sparky has a special talent for identifying needs that customers did not know they had. “We are enhancing our shopping assistants like Sparky and building new experiences with partners like OpenAI and Alphabet that are shaping the future of agentic commerce.” International gets a currency tailwind Sales for Walmart International, which includes non-domestic Sam’s Clubs, rose 11.5 per cent to US$35.9 billion in the fourth quarter, with a hefty 400 basis points tailwind from currency changes. Sales for the whole year amounted to US$130.4 billion, representing growth of 7.0 per cent (9.3 per cent in constant currency). Again, as in previous quarters, it was China, Flipkart and Walmex that did the heavy lifting to support the growth numbers. Membership income rose by 34 per cent year-on-year. E-commerce sales were up by 26 per cent across the International segment, and in China by 28 per cent, where e-commerce now has more than 50 per cent sales penetration. Lightning-fast delivery speed raises the ire of authorities Another aspect of technology that Walmart’s leadership praises at every opportunity is the positive effect that faster delivery speeds are having on e-commerce penetration. Flipkart in India is one of the company’s growth leaders, with CFO John David Rainey noting that it is delivering orders in under 15 minutes across 30 Indian cities. What Rainey failed to mention, perhaps because he has not driven in an Asian city lately, is that Flipkart and other online delivery companies in India are creating a significant safety hazard on the country’s roads, much the same as they do in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. It has become such a problem that in January the government in New Delhi told Flipkart and its peers to desist from advertising 10-minute delivery times. India is such a juicy market for e-commerce that there has been a stacks-on-the-mill rush of companies serving it, including Amazon, Swiggy and Zomato, as well as Flipkart. The cut-throat competition is great for consumers but bad for the survival chances of delivery drivers. It is the dirty secret of e-commerce right across Asia: the pressure on delivery drivers – most of whom deliver on motorcycles – to make these deliveries in under 10 minutes on bad roads, in chaotic traffic, severe air pollution and extremes of heat is proving deadly. Driver commissions are razor-thin, which keeps prices low for consumers but results in a clear incentive for drivers to make as many deliveries in a day as possible to generate income, thus risking their lives and those of others every time they ride. Walmart has also contributed unwittingly to this problem in China, where it has a partnership with Meituan and delivers most of its orders in less than one hour, helping to drive the spectacular growth in its China online business in recent years. In Southeast Asia, the major culprits include Grab, Shopee (a unit of Sea Limited) and Lineman, all high-profile companies using motorcycle delivery ‘partners’. However, it is the same problem everywhere in developing Asia, and the folks in Bentonville do not publicly acknowledge it. Singapore-based Grab claims to be concerned about driver safety, but there is little evidence outside Singapore itself that this has any meaningful effect. Walmart and Sam’s Club both grew strongly in the US Back in the US, concerns about driver safety seem aeons away. Walmart US, which excludes domestic Sam’s Clubs, continued to generate mid-single-digit growth in comparable store sales in the fourth quarter. Sales rose on the back of growth both in the number of transactions and average ticket. Gross margin was up 17 basis points to 26.9 per cent and e-commerce grew by 17 per cent, with increased speed of delivery a key selling point. The company is getting good growth across a broad set of merchandise categories and believes it is gaining market share among more affluent consumers. Furner told investors on February 19 that “the majority of our share gains came from households making more than US$100,000.” The narrative is less buoyant for low-income households, for whom, as Furner puts it, “wallets are stretched and, in some cases, people are managing spending pay cheque to pay cheque.” For the full year, net sales were US$483.0 billion, representing 68 per cent of the company’s global business, identical to the previous year. For Sam’s Club in the US, net sales were up 2.9 per cent to US$23.8 billion, with comps up 4.0 per cent excluding fuel. Membership revenue was up 6.1 per cent and e-commerce by 23.0 per cent. For the full year, Sam’s US generated US$93.0 billion in sales, with mid-single-digit comparable store sales growth.