"We are not seeing a major shift in consumer behaviors at this point," Walmart Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs told Yahoo Finance.
Biggs said customers have recently been buying items like luggage, party supplies, and apparel. Back to school shopping has also gotten off to a “strong” start, and consumers are spending on things like backpacks and items for the classroom.
Monitoring the situation
The company said its second quarter sales grew 5.2%, beating analysts’ forecasts of growth of 3.12%. Revenue was $141.05 billion, which topped analyst expectations of $137.17 billion. By month, Walmart said July saw the highest sales. All merchandise categories (grocery, health and wellness, and general merchandise) performed particularly strongly that month.
In an interview with CNBC, Biggs said Walmart is monitoring the Delta situation as it pertains to shopping behaviors, but no apparent shift has been spotted so far.
“Mask wearing is back up again, but runs on supplies — things we saw last March, April [of 2020] — we really haven’t seen again,” he said.