Walmart’s 24% e-commerce jump is turning stores into same-day logistics nodes, and 30-minute delivery is now the new capacity test

Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business grew 24% in its fiscal 2027 second quarter. That number is attention-grabbing, but the operational signal is where the volume is being fulfilled: Walmart said store-fulfilled deliveries grew more than 40%, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Logistics Report.

For operators, that reframes “omnichannel” away from digital marketing and toward store throughput. If stores are the fulfillment engine, then backroom space, pick-path design, labor planning, and on-shelf accuracy become the growth levers. Walmart’s own executives are describing the store estate as having “evolved” with e-commerce growth, Retail Dive reported from the company’s earnings call.

The new benchmark is speed, not channel share

The Wall Street Journal reported that fast delivery volume across groceries, fashion, medicines and general merchandise rose 48% in the U.S. for the quarter. CEO John Furner also said Walmart has expanded 30-minutes-or-less delivery into 38 U.S. markets, according to the Journal.

CFO John David Rainey added another line that matters to anyone benchmarking service levels: 70% of Walmart’s e-commerce orders are delivered the same day or better, the Journal reported. That sets a real performance bar for regional retailers and grocers who still treat same-day as a pilot rather than a default.

Retail Dive, citing Walmart’s earnings materials and call, said e-commerce now represents over 23% of Walmart U.S.’ mix, roughly double its share five years ago. In other words, “digital” is no longer a side business that can tolerate separate processes. It’s a material chunk of store workload, every day.

Stores are being asked to behave like micro-DCs

Walmart’s results show what store-fulfilled growth actually looks like financially and operationally. Retail Dive reported that Walmart U.S. transactions and average ticket each grew more than 1% year over year in Q2, while the company’s overall revenue rose 5.9% to $187.9 billion and operating income increased 28.8% to $9.4 billion, based on Walmart’s fiscal Q2 release.

Yet the same quarter delivered a mixed read for store leaders: Walmart U.S. comparable sales rose 2.6%, which Retail Dive said was softened by the impact of maximum fair price regulation on drugs. Excluding health and wellness, comps were 3.4%, Walmart disclosed in its earnings presentation cited by Retail Dive. The Journal also noted that the 2.6% comp was the smallest quarterly increase since 2020, reflecting cautious spending behavior.

That combination, heavy investment requirements for speed plus modest comp growth, is why stores keep getting redesigned around work, not just shopping. Faster delivery requires dedicated staging, a disciplined substitution process for grocery, and a predictable handoff to drivers. None of that is free. It competes with merchandising, returns, and front-end labor for the same square footage and payroll hours.

Supplier and procurement implications: packaging, availability, and appointment discipline

For CPG, general merchandise, and 3PL partners, the store-fulfilled tilt changes what “in-stock” means. In a store-as-node model, inventory accuracy needs to support two demand streams: a shopper walking the aisle and a picker expecting that item to be there right now. Walmart’s statement that more than 40% sales growth came from deliveries fulfilled at stores, as reported by the Journal, suggests that the practical definition of availability increasingly includes “pickable” inventory, not just on-hand units.

Packaging and case-pack decisions also move from a pure shelf-efficiency discussion to a picking-efficiency one. Suppliers that can reduce touch labor, improve scan reliability, and keep items intact through store handling can become easier to flow through high-velocity fulfillment lanes. For categories with fragile packaging, high cube, or high substitution rates, the economics of 30-minute delivery can change quickly.

Finally, the speed promise amplifies appointment discipline upstream. If a retailer commits to 30-minute delivery in 38 markets, late or inconsistent inbound receipts become a same-day failure risk downstream. That tends to drive tighter OTIF enforcement, more frequent replenishment, and more granular performance conversations at the DC and store level, even when the original contract language didn’t anticipate that tempo.

Where this lands in 2027 planning discussions

Walmart raised its fiscal 2027 net sales guidance to 4% to 5%, up from 3.5% to 4.5%, Retail Dive reported from the company’s update. The company’s path to that guidance is increasingly coupled to execution inside stores because store-fulfilled delivery is providing a large share of e-commerce growth.

For operators at other retailers, the most useful Walmart numbers are the ones that can be used as thresholds: 23%+ e-commerce mix for Walmart U.S., 70% same-day-or-better delivery performance, and a 38-market footprint for 30-minute delivery, according to Retail Dive and The Wall Street Journal. Those are concrete reference points for deciding whether existing store labor models, backroom layouts, and last-mile partnerships are sized for what 2027 customers will treat as normal.

Questions to take into store ops, last-mile, and supplier QBRs

• For store operations: What percentage of e-commerce orders are currently fulfilled from stores, and what is the pick-rate target by department (grocery vs. general merchandise) needed to support same-day at scale?
• For last-mile partners and fleet: In the markets where 30-minute delivery is being contemplated, what is the dispatch cadence, driver dwell-time standard, and peak-hour capacity plan required to avoid queueing at the store?
• For procurement and suppliers: Which top 50 SKUs create the most pick exceptions (substitutions, damages, missing scans), and what packaging, case pack, or labeling changes would reduce touch labor in the backroom and on the floor?
• For finance and facilities: What square footage is actually available for staging and returns processing, and what capex would be required to reallocate space without degrading in-store conversion?