Walmart Net Sales by Year: From FY 1970 to 2020

The below graph represents the yearly distribution of Walmart's global net sales, starting from fiscal 1970 to the recently completed year. In FY 2020, the retail giant generated its highest-ever annual net sales of $519,926 million ($519.9 billion), with 1.9% YoY growth.

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The above graph represents the worldwide Walmart net sales by year, starting from fiscal 1970 to the recently completed year. Walmart annual net sales increased 1.9% YoY in fiscal 2020, clocking $519,926 million ($519.9 billion), globally. This was the highest-ever net sales generated by the company in a single year. Interestingly, the fourth quarter, also known as holiday quarter, accounted for over one-fourth of the company’s total net sales generated in FY 2020. Walmart net sales in FY Q4 2020 reached an all-time high of $140,608 million ($140.6 billion).

Growth in Walmart Global Net Sales: History

RegionWorldwide
SourceWalmart Annual ReportsSEC Filings
Graph ID189
NoteWalmart financial year: From Feb 1st to January 31st

In fiscal 2019, the retail giant generated more than half a trillion ($500 billion) in net sales, globally. Walmart’s total revenue in FY 2019 clocked $514.4 billion, which primarily comprised of net sales of $510,329 million ($510.3 billion), and $4,076 million ($4.1 billion) of membership and other income.

It was the first time in 1997 when Walmart annual net sales crossed $100 billion mark. The company’s global net sales increased a significant 12% YoY to reach $104,859 million ($104.9 billion). Interestingly, in just 5 years the company achieved another milestone – the annual net sales crossed $200 billion mark in fiscal 2002.

Walmart has continuously been clocking growth for the last 28 years, in terms of revenue and net sales. However, in fiscal 2016, Walmart’s global net sales and revenue, both declined a negligible 0.7% YoY to $478,614 million and $482,130 million, respectively.

Walmart has currently three reportable segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club.

About Walmart Inc.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) (formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was founded in 1962, by Sam M. Walton and opened the first Walmart Discount City store in Rogers, Arkansas. Within just five years, it expanded to 24 stores in the city.

On October 31, 1969, the company was officially incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and within a year, on October 1, 1970, it became a publicly-traded company. The first stock was sold at $16.50 per share.

In 1983, Walmart opened its first Sam’s Club, while in 1988, the company opened its first Supercenter and first Walmart Neighborhood Market.

It was the year 1997 when Walmart celebrated its first $100 billion annual sales.

In 2000, Walmart launched its first e-commerce website – walmart.comSince then, the company’s e-commerce presence has been growing phenomenally. In August 2018, Walmart acquired Flipkart for $16 billion – the largest acquisition Walmart made in the last 10 years.

Walmart remains the No. 1 company on 2019 Fortune 500 list for the seven years in a row.

On February 1, 2018, the legal name of the company became Walmart Inc., changing from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

As of the end of fiscal 2019, Walmart Inc. and its subsidiaries combined employed more than 2.2 million employees (“associates”), globally. Out of that, about 1.5 million associates are from the U.S. and rest nearly 0.7 million associates internationally.

Here are some more interesting facts about Walmart.


The above graph is a part of Dazeinfo GraphFarm – the most trusted source of hundreds of thousands of market graphs. Our team of researchers mines millions of data points every month to bring the most updated and validated set of data points representing the comprehensive view in a graphical format. From mobile to e-commerce, from Retail to healthcare, from startups to SMEs we have carefully designed thousands of graphs for those who value and understand the importance of data visualisation.

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