Walmart reported blowout Q2 earnings on Tuesday, led by a 97% surge in online sales. That comes after Walmart’s online sales rose 74% in Q1. The chain, which was criticized years ago for being too slow to beef up its online presence, has been on an e-commerce hot streak since before the pandemic and is now a formidable online sales foe to Amazon, which saw its net sales rise 40% in Q2.
The stay-at-home era has served as a tide to lift many e-commerce boats: in the first quarter Target saw its online sales spike 141%, and said that in April alone, online sales were up an astonishing 282%. Target reports second-quarter earnings on Wednesday and is likely to disclose similar massive e-commerce gains.
Even Etsy (ETSY), which due to its size is rarely compared to giants like Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT), and Target (TGT), saw its Q2 sales (which are entirely online) rise 137%, driven by mask purchasing, which comprised 14% of all sales in the quarter.
Overall, U.S. e-commerce grew 44.5% in Q2, the biggest quarterly growth in more than 20 years.