Walmart-owned Flipkart’s GMV exceeds pre-COVID-19 levels
Walmart’s financial performance for the second quarter showed that ever since India started reversing the COVID-19 lockdown, the GMV of Flipkart has been on the rise.
The gross merchandise value (GMV) of Flipkart, India’s leading ecommerce marketplace majority owned by Walmart, has exceeded the pre-COVID-19 levels, according to the latest financial performance of the parent company for the second quarter.
Walmart, which announced its second-quarter results for the three months ending July 2020 in its earnings release, stated, “Since re-opening, GMV at Flipkart has exceeded pre-COVID-19 levels.”
This is a big boost for the ecommerce industry in India and Flipkart, in particular, which had faced very challenging times during the initial period of the nationwide lockdown announced on March 25 to curb the spread of COVID-19.
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Flipkart comes under the segment of international sales for Walmart. This segment, however, had recorded a net sales of $27.2 billion — a decline of 6.8 percent.
The earnings statement of Walmart on the performance of the international markets said, “Negatively affected by government mandated closures in India, Africa and Central America.”
However, the overall performance of Walmart has been upbeat as the total revenue stood at $137.7 billion — an increase of 5.6 percent. The global retail giant’s US ecommerce sales grew by 97 percent with strong results across all channels. The performance of Walmart has exceeded market expectations.
Walmart acquired majority stake in Flipkart in 2018 in a deal valued $16 billion, making it one of the largest ever for the Indian startup ecosystem.
Since then, Walmart has placed strong bets on the Indian market through investments and merger with its other group companies in the country.
In the month of July, Walmart had made two key announcements with regards to Flipkart. It announced a fund infusion of $1.2 billion into Flipkart at valuation of $24.9 billion. This fund infusion was to support the continued development of its ecommerce marketplace as the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Similarly, Flipkart had announced the acquisition of Walmart India and also the launch of its online wholesale marketplace. This transaction also brought the Best Price cash-and-carry stores of Walmart India under the Flipkart fold. The Flipkart wholesale segment will begin its services in the grocery and fashion categories.
Edited by Kanishk Singh