Walmart joins $1 trillion club: What powered the historic milestone
Walmart became the first retailer to reach a $1 trillion market cap on Tuesday, February 3, capping a yearlong rally that has sent its shares up nearly 26% and placed the company alongside Big Tech giants like Nvidia and Alphabet.
This milestone underscores Walmart’s transformation from a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer into a technology-driven commerce giant.
Acquiring both high and low income customers
Walmart’s rise stems from its ability to attract higher-income consumers seeking value and convenience while maintaining its core base of lower-income customers; It’s a balance that competitors have a hard time replicating.
Over the past decade, Walmart shares have gained 468%, far outperforming the S&P 500’s 264% gain, reflecting the success of its dual-customer strategy.
Digital expansion drives growth
In the past five years alone, Walmart has rapidly expanded its digital footprint, growing its online marketplace to more than half a billion products, introducing one-hour delivery, launching Walmart+ to rival Amazon Prime, and building a $4 billion advertising business that has boosted margins.
“They’ve moved from just being a local retailer with good prices to really embracing technology,” said Eric Clark, chief investment officer of Accuvest Global Advisors.
“There has been a massive digital business transformation that this company has experienced over the last five years.”
Early AI bet pays off
One of the biggest factors in Walmart’s superior performance has been its aggressive investment in artificial intelligence. Retailers have poured billions of dollars into supply chain automation to improve inventory forecasting, stock fresher products, speed deliveries and improve search and product discovery.
These investments have given Walmart a clear operational edge and helped it beat U.S. same-store sales forecasts for 15 consecutive quarters, according to LSEG data.
Investors’ optimism about artificial intelligence has boosted the stock further as consumers increasingly shift their grocery shopping online.
AI arms race with Amazon
Walmart has partnered with OpenAI and Google to embed shopping tools directly into AI-powered search chatbots, increasing competition from Amazon, which previously launched its GenAI shopping assistant Rufus.
Brian Mulberry, senior client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, said Walmart has emerged as the “new AI giant” because of how deeply it has integrated AI into its operations.
“Technology helps reduce costs, increase efficiency and capture a larger share of consumer spending,” Mulberry said.
Change of leadership, tougher competition
The milestone comes as John Furner takes over as Walmart’s global CEO, with the retailer doubling down on technology investments amid intensifying competition from Amazon, Aldi and Target.
The broader retail environment remains challenging, with U.S. households (especially low- and middle-income earners) under pressure from persistent inflation, a cooling job market, tariffs, and uncertainty related to the recent U.S. government shutdown.
Joined the $1 trillion elite club
Walmart was added to the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 Index last month, replacing AstraZeneca. It now joins a select group of US companies valued at $1 trillion or more, including Nvidia, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Broadcom, Tesla and Berkshire Hathaway.
For Walmart, the achievement is not just a valuation milestone, but also validation of its push toward technology, artificial intelligence and digital-first retail.
