Walmart's E-commerce Results Have Amazon and Target on Alert

When retail giant Walmart (NYSE: WMT) released third-quarter earnings Thursday, competing e-commerce companies and discount retailers like Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Target (NYSE: TGT) were watching closely. While all metrics are important, specific attention surely was paid to Walmart's performance and growth in e-commerce and digital sales.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, e-commerce, as a percentage of total retail sales, has been on a steady rise. In the second quarter of 2009, total U.S. e-commerce sales were estimated at $35 billion and represented 4% of total sales. A decade later, total U.S. e-commerce Q2 sales were estimated at $146.2 billion and represented 10.7% of total sales. Additionally, this year's Q2 growth represents a 13.3% change year over year.

Summed up and simplified, e-commerce continues to show that it continues to grow in importance to the overall retail sector, which means investors need to pay close attention to how successful traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are able to adapt and compete with pure e-commerce companies like Amazon. Let's look at how Walmart performed in Q3.

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Source Fool.com