Retail

Amazon Online Audience Is 120% Higher Than Walmart’s

Walmart TV
courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Following the company’s surprise second quarter profit, Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) market cap jumped over that of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), the company often described as the world’s largest retailer. That description remains accurate if you’re counting employees or bricks, but as the market cap numbers indicate, all those people and bricks may not be as productive as a website that attracted nearly 182 million unique U.S. visitors in the month of June alone.

That’s the number of visitors to Amazon’s website according to data published on Friday by comScore. The top 5 multi-platform digital media properties are Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) with about 242 million unique visitors, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) with about 214 million, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) with about 209 million, Amazon, and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) with about 175 million.

Of the top 50 digital media properties, Walmart ranks 23rd with nearly 84 million unique visitors. Ironically, no other traditional retailer even makes the cut. And even though Walmart’s revenues are roughly 5 times Amazon’s, the biggest retailer in the U.S. online economy is Amazon, not Walmart.

Amazon’s second-quarter revenues rose nearly 20% year-over-year. Operating expenses in the second-quarter rose about 17.4%, and pre-tax profit totaled $362 million compared with a loss of $27 million a year ago.

Walmart’s second-quarter revenues dipped 0.1% year-over-year. Operating expenses rose just 0.3% and pre-tax profit fell nearly 14%, from $5.63 billion in the year-ago quarter to $$4.86 billion.

Can Walmart beef up its online sales? It has to. The company just acquired all the shares of Chinese e-commerce business Yihaodian, of which it already owned a controlling stake. That will help, certainly, provided Chinese consumers flock to the on-line retailer. Walmart appears to understand that the game has changed, but it may have waited too long to take full advantage of the new rules.

ALSO READ: Customer Service Hall of Shame

Take Charge of Your Retirement: Find the Right Financial Advisor For You in Minutes (Sponsor)

Retirement planning doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. The key is finding professional guidance—and we’ve made it easier than ever for you to connect with the right financial advisor for your unique needs.

Here’s how it works: 

1️ Answer a Few Simple Questions

Tell us a bit about your goals and preferences—it only takes a few minutes!

2️ Get Your Top Advisor Matches

This tool matches you with qualified advisors who specialize in helping people like you achieve financial success.

3️ Choose Your Best Fit

Review their profiles, schedule an introductory meeting, and select the advisor who feels right for you.

Why wait? Start building the retirement you’ve always dreamed of. Click here to get started today!

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.

AI Portfolio

Discover Our Top AI Stocks

Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.

You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.