Quick Take — Walmart has missed its quarterly like-for-like sales estimates for the first time in at least five years

On Thursday, highlighting the strain that rising fuel costs are placing on consumer spending, its shares fell by 8 per cent in early trading.

The world’s largest retailer has slightly raised its annual sales and profit targets, but said it expects fuel prices to remain stable, leading to $2 billion in additional fuel-related costs on top of the original forecasts.

E-commerce sales in the US rose by 24 per cent, whilst Walmart Connect recorded a 43 per cent increase in turnover.

Average spend per transaction rose by 1.1 per cent, slowing sharply compared with the previous year .

Quick Take — Are retail sales stagnating? Advertising is on the rise at Walmart

Next Thursday, Walmart is expected to provide an update on its sales and profitability figures, with like-for-like sales growth below 4 per cent for the first time since 2024, mainly due to petrol prices (To cope with these challenging times, Walmart has reduced the prices of 7,000 items in its range).

Bucking the trend, Walmart Connect’s advertising revenue is up by 44 per cent; whilst this represents an infinitesimal fraction of total turnover ($713 billion), it accounts for a third of operating profit (EBIT).

Walmart has identified AI as the next phase of growth for Walmart Connect, as more and more consumers use AI chatbots to search for deals. The retailer has begun testing adverts within its AI shopping assistant, Sparky

Almost a third of consumer searches now originate from AI models, according to data from digital commerce consultancy Flywheel…

Amazon is further ahead in transforming its proprietary chatbot, now called Alexa for Shopping, into a new advertising channel, but Walmart’s 2024 acquisition of smart-TV manufacturer Vizio has enabled it to expand Connect beyond its website and into its television streaming services.

The disparity in growth between Walmart’s retail and advertising sales is evident in this Reuters table

Drafted on 18 August, updated on 19 August 2026

Quick Take — US: how consumer spending has changed over the last two years

In 2024, beef purchases accounted for a third of all meat purchases. This year, shoppers have bought far less: just 20 per cent of the total.

The amount of chicken they bought has increased: from 41.9 per cent to 47.5 per cent in 2026.

The average shop spend has also risen because shoppers have shifted towards membership-based discount stores (such as Sam’s Club – which is owned by Walmart – or Costco, for example): in 2024, the average shop spend was $66.13, compared with $72.31 this year

The New York Times

Below: beef from Costco.

Quick Take — Amazon is the leading distributor in Europe and the third-largest in the United States

Amazon has taken the lead in European retail in terms of sales volume, narrowly overtaking the German Schwarz Group, which owns the Lidl and Kaufland chains.

This figure is interesting but not entirely clear, as it is not obvious exactly which data it refers to: the report only mentions merchandise turnover (does this include non-food items?).

What is truly interesting is the fact that in the US, Amazon is now the third-largest retailer of packaged food and consumer goods (health and beauty, homeware and pet food): it has overtaken major supermarket chains such as Kroger, placing itself behind Walmart and Costco.

This is not a symbolic milestone, like overtaking Lidl, but a serious warning to European retailers: should Amazon decide to step up a gear, it could become the dominant force in the consumer goods sector.

The latest figures from Amazon in the US place it second only to Walmart: Amazon in the second quarter of 2026: net turnover growth of 20 per cent year-on-year, reaching $200.6 billion

Drafted on 26 July, updated on 3 August 2026

Quick Take — Kroger launches its AI shopping assistant for meal planning

Shoppers can plan a week’s worth of meals, browse recipes and put together a shopping basket that fits a set budget or dietary restriction.

They can also take a photo of a handwritten shopping list or recipe card, or simply paste in a URL, and the tool will find the corresponding products and build a shopping basket in seconds.

The assistant also offers personalised product suggestions and ready-made shopping lists for occasions beyond the everyday, such as birthdays or tailgate parties…

[RELATED: 70% of US shoppers already use AI for shopping and plan to use it more – Report]

Kroger is a supermarket chain and the fourth-largest retailer of consumer goods in the US, after Walmart, Costco and Amazon

Quick Take — Tesco is considering selling its European operations

Drafted on 8 July, updated on 14 July 2026.

According to the Financial Times, the supermarket chain is exploring options with its banks for its operations in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where it employs over 22,000 people. The sale of the business would put an end to Tesco’s ambitions outside the UK and Ireland, including its failed attempt to build a new supermarket chain from scratch in the United States.

I visited a Tesco in Budapest in 2008 and didn’t come away with a very good impression.

Tesco’s latest figures can be found here: turnover from the Central European division is marginal, accounting for 6.2 per cent of the total.

The EBIT figures (operating profit: the blue line shows the trend in Central Europe’s EBIT) below are taken from a subsequent Financial Times article which reminds us all that purchasing in the retail sector takes place at a local, country-specific level.

This has been one of the major obstacles to the internationalisation of Carrefour, Walmart, Auchan and Rewe, for example: the approach is international, but the products are, for the most part, local.